Hey Mister, She's My Sister (Sorority AU)
by Sappho82
Summary: Yuzu is a sorority girl from California who transferred to a new university in the Midwest. She's living in Chi Theta Sigma sorority house with her sisters, and it's really great. The only wrinkle in Yuzu's awesome college life is the fact that her roommate Mei Aihara hates her. Mei also happens to be the sorority president.- Sorority AU / American College AU- Jealous Mei
1. love affair?

Yuzu was breathing heavily by the time she hauled her giant suitcase up the flight of stairs to the third floor of her new sorority house.

Well, the sorority _house_ was new to her, but not the sorority.

Yuzu had already become a fully-fledged member of Chi Theta Sigma during her time at UCLA. When she found out that there was a chapter of her sorority in the university she was transferring to, it instantly made leaving California for this Midwestern state a little bit more appealing.

So she contacted the sorority chapter in the school she was transferring to, and was overjoyed when they told her that they would take her. Not all sororities would do that – accept transfers from other chapters without having to go through the pledging process like any other initiate. And so Yuzu happily paid the first month's membership dues and housing deposit, and she was on her way to start her new life as a new student in her new university but living with the sisters of her beloved sorority!

Reaching the end of the hallway, Yuzu stopped in front of Room 7. Twisting the knob, she pushed the door open to her new bedroom.

Mei Aihara, the sorority president, was standing in front of a dresser placing clothes into the top drawer. Yuzu instantly recognized the young woman from her photo in the sorority's website.

"Uh, you're not Madison," fell out of Yuzu's mouth before she could stop the words.

Mei turned her head and looked Yuzu up and down for a long moment before she replied with a curt, "Obviously."

She returned to putting away her clothes and didn't say anything more.

Yuzu worried her lip, her thoughts churning. _What the hell?_ She and Madison were assigned to be roommates a few weeks ago, and they had texted a bit on Facebook messenger. The sophomore seemed like a really nice girl and had been eager to show Yuzu around the school. Why was the sorority president here in her room? And why was she kinda…cold?

"Am I supposed to be in a different room?" Yuzu asked, hating the way that her voice came out so timidly.

Yuzu saw Mei's chest rise and fall, like she hated what she was about to say next.

"No, this is your room," Mei said, with an edge in her tone that sent a chill down Yuzu's spine.

Her beautiful face pinching into an expression of distaste, she continued, "Madison decided at the last minute that she was going to live with her boyfriend. And Emily, who's been my roommate for the last two years, is doing a semester abroad in Spain. Kayla and Blaire really wanted to be in the same room, so they got my old room. So…the two of us are going to be roommates."

"Oh." Apprehension tickled Yuzu's stomach. She may not be a genius, but she could tell that Mei didn't like her. Recovering quickly, she chirped, "Cool!"

With more cheerfulness than was probably necessary, she barreled on, "I'm sure we'll get along great. I'm an awesome roommate! Just ask Chloe. Chloe, she was my roommate back in UCLA. We were in the same pledge class, and we really bonded during initiation, and then we became roomies and we did everything together! We designed the shirt for our pledge class and it turned out _awesome_, and gosh I'll really miss her. She was the best sister in the whole sorority to me, but I know you and I will be just as good as friends…!"

The look on Mei's face cut off Yuzu's rambling. Mei was looking at her like she was something vile on the bottom of her shoe. Yuzu swallowed.

"Yuzu, right?" Mei asked airily, but it sounded like she was saying_ a complete and utter idiot_. "The transfer from the UCLA chapter. You were on the cheer squad for the last two years. Majoring in Earth and Environmental Science with a Japanese minor."

"Yeah! And you're Mei Aihara. I've seen your photos on the website, and the Facebook group, and Madison has told me all about you. Nice to meet you, Mei!"

Yuzu bounced over to where Mei was standing, feeling compelled to initiate some kind of contact with the woman that was going to be her roommate for at least one whole academic year. And more importantly, the president of her new sorority chapter. This was her new _sister._

She moved in like she was coming in for a hug, but Mei's death glare made it clear that she shouldn't unless she wanted her arms burned off. She tried to transition into a handshake instead, but the furrow in Mei's brow also made it clear that that gesture was also unwelcome, so the flustered blonde was left awkwardly dangling her arms at her side.

Yuzu felt like she was two feet tall. What was Mei's problem? Was she this bitchy to all the girls in the sorority or just to her? Was she actually against members transferring from other chapters?

And now that Yuzu was standing closer to Mei, she could more acutely feel Mei's glare. The sorority president raked her eyes down Yuzu's front, unashamedly staring at the exposed cleavage from her low-cut crop top, then to her short shorts, to her strappy wedge sandals. Her disapproving gaze burned into Yuzu with the intensity of a brand new tanning bed.

Yuzu knew for a fact that she looked hot as fuck right now. She had turned many a head at the airport. Her long blond hair was curled in soft waves. The 3.5-inch heels made her legs look fabulous, and her make up was on point. So why was Mei Aihara looking at her like she was vomit in the living room carpet after a party?

One thing was for sure. Mei Aihara did not approve of her.

* * *

"Loathing" was probably too strong a word to describe how Mei felt about her new roommate. About her new _sister_. But honestly? It was close. Definitely in the same general vicinity.

It was bad enough that Emily was gone and she had to room with someone else. Emily, now _she_ was the perfect roommate. She was also the perfect Chi, in Mei's opinion. A girl after her own heart. Emily had a 4.0 average, like her. Emily spent most of her nights studying and rarely partied. She was on the shy side, but she was responsible and a hard worker.

The moment Yuzu walked into the room, Mei knew that she was the complete opposite of Emily.

She didn't want to judge a book by its cover. But this cover…was currently very revealing. One, Emily didn't own a single shirt that was as tight and form-fitting as the one Yuzu had on. The blonde wore a hunter green sleeveless crop top that had a split in the middle of the already low neckline. Mei found it hard to tear her eyes away from the rise of her cleavage that was peeking out over her top. It was _scandalous _at how much skin this girl was showing.

Two, those denim shorts. When her Yuzu turned around and walked to her suitcase, Mei could clearly see those shorts hugging the curve of her ass. The girl had a perfect bubble butt. And these shorts look painted on. In contrast, Emily wore a lot of plaid pencil skirts with dark tights underneath.

Three, that gorgeous blond hair. Cascading down her back like a goddamn gold waterfall and framing her face like a Hollywood starlet about to do a photoshoot for the cover of Vanity Fair. Most days Emily simply twisted her shoulder length hair into a messy bun on top of her head, and it took about a minute and half to do. God only knows how many hours it took for Yuzu to get her hair to look like a Pantene commercial.

Frowning at the open drawer of her dresser, Mei had a sinking feeling that she and this Yuzu were going to clash. Just by the looks of her, this young woman clearly had a different lifestyle and different priorities than her. Mei was in college to get a business degree so she would be well-prepared to inherit her family's company. She was in this sorority for the connections and the doors that would be open to her once she graduated.

Mei intended to graduate summa cum laude with an impressive extracurricular record for leadership, organization, and community service. And of course, for being the president of a top sorority.

What she didn't need, or want, was a blonde California Barbie for a roommate who probably only cared about fashion and boys and getting wasted at parties.

_Ugh._ Mei gritted her teeth, shooting another dirty look at the blonde who was starting to unpack her suitcase. She made up her mind. She wasn't going to let her new _sister_ ruin her college aspirations. Mei would just have to show Yuzu who was boss (her, naturally) in their room, _and_ in this house. That would keep her in line.

* * *

"Harumi, Mei absolutely hates me."

Yuzu sounded so pitiful and full of frustration that Harumi had to bite back a laugh. It was kind of true though. It was pretty clear that Mei wasn't being very… sisterly to Yuzu. Mei wasn't really the warm, touchy-feely type, but still, she was usually pleasant and agreeable enough. But Harumi had seen their interactions with her own eyes, and Mei _was_ pretty cold towards the blonde.

Harumi bumped her shoulder against her new sister as they straightened out the flyers and decorations on their table at the Pan-Hellenic information fair. "Don't sweat it too much, Yuzu. Mei can be…a little standoffish at first, but I think she'll warm up to you eventually. You just have to be yourself, and what you are, is pretty awesome."

Unlike the president, Harumi liked the new transfer right away, becoming fast friends after they met at the sorority house.

"Thanks, babe." Yuzu turned her head towards Harumi and gave her friend a small, sad smile. "I'm glad someone thinks so. Because rooming with Mei makes me feel like I'm always doing something wrong, you know? It's like anytime I'm in the room she's either completely ignoring me or glaring at me."

Yuzu sighed deeply, loud enough to make Mei, who was talking to some freshmen a few feet away, turn around and look over to them. The president gave them a curious glance, which morphed into a much sharper look, when her eyes landed on Harumi. She could have sworn that Mei narrowed her eyes when she looked at her.

"Why she gotta be such a bitch to me?" Yuzu hissed in a low voice as she plopped down on the folding chair behind their sorority's table. "Isn't she like, required to be nice to every sister because she's the president? Is this some sort of backdoor initiation because I transferred from another chapter? Am I being hazed?"

Harumi's eyes widened. "Oh my god girl, no," she whispered fiercely. "Maybe she's just really stressed or something? She's in her senior year, she maintains a 4.0 GPA, she's in the Honors College, she's on the Pan-hellenic council… girl has a lot on her plate. Just cut her some slack, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Yuzu grumbled. "I'll keep trying to kill her with kindness for now."

* * *

Mei whipped around in her swivel chair to face Yuzu who was lying in bed.

"Yuzu," she snapped. "Put on some earphones if you're going to be listening to your music. I'm studying here. And I really don't want to hear Ariana Grande on repeat. I don't even understand how you can call that _music_. Seriously, that stuff rots your brain."

Yuzu rolled her eyes before turning her head to look at her roommate. She was tired of being nice. She had tried to be super nice to Mei for weeks. But the woman was intent in disliking her, it seemed. It was getting on her nerves, honestly. And now she had to throw shade at Ari. The nerve.

"Well sorry if my taste in pop princess offends you, Mei. What kind of music should I listen to so that it'll make me smarter? What will turn me into a genius like you?"

Mei responded with a huff of annoyance, refusing to be baited. Before she swiveled back to face her desk, her eyes raked over Yuzu's body during the few seconds that the blonde turned her head away to reach for her headphones on the bedside table. The blonde was lying on her back in her usual sleep attire— a cream-colored satin camisole with matching pajama shorts. The furtive sweep of Mei's gaze got snagged on Yuzu's nipples poking through her cami.

Seeing the hard peaks on top of her the blonde's generous chest made her teeth ache. She clenched her jaw and went back to studying for her accounting exam.

* * *

"So I had this really weird dream about Mei."

"Oh?" Harumi didn't slow her peddling on the stationary bike or tear her eyes away from her Instagram. "What happened in your dream?"

Yuzu giggled. "I dreamt that we got married. And we even wore _identical_ wedding dresses."

"What? You mean wore the same exact dress?"

"Yup."

Chuckling, Harumi turned to look at Yuzu who was on the stationary bike beside her. Yuzu was covered in sweat, having cranked the resistance to high. Amusement twinkled in her eyes and she was grinning from ear to ear.

"Was I there? In your wedding?"

"Of course. You were my maid of honor."

"Sweet," Harumi said, absolutely tickled by the idea of Yuzu and Mei getting married. The likelihood of them ending up together was so improbable that even talking about it out loud was comical.

"So is this dream trying to tell you that you and Mei want to kill each other is because you're secretly in love with each other and you just want to bang?"

Yuzu tilted her head back and laughed, but still not slowing her punishing pace on the bike. Her quad muscles strained at the effort.

"I mean," she replied, a lopsided grin pulling on one side of her mouth. "Mei Aihara is like the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on. And she is _so_ my type."

* * *

It was downright annoying, how Yuzu was actually _great_ at being a sorority girl.

Mei tried not to frown as she grudgingly accepted this fact while she watched her roommate tutor an elementary school kid with a shock of bright auburn hair. The boy was enthusiastically nodding while tracking Yuzu's finger running across the worksheets they were working on. When they completed the page, Yuzu gave a quiet little cheer (they were in the library after all) and the two high-fived. The way the boy beamed at the blonde spoke volumes about how he felt about his tutor.

Watching the pair from across the tables set aside for the after-school program at the city library, Mei was amazed at how easily the blonde was interacting with the elementary school boy. Their sorority had been volunteering at the library for a couple of years now, and this particular kid was considered a difficult case ever since he started coming to the tutoring program. He was incredibly hyper and fought with his tutors about finishing his homework, and Natasha, who was the Community Service Chair, had to rotate all the sisters to be his tutor because no one could stand to work with him on a permanent basis.

But here Yuzu was, getting the kid to do his homework with no fuss and even managed to look like they were having fun.

Yuzu may look like the stereotypical sorority girl—too gorgeous and put together for a Tuesday afternoon in a musty city library— but it was clear that she was good with kids. Good at teaching kids. She was patient, kind, and knew how to make things _fun._

The hour and a half was over and everyone at the tables began to gather up their things. Before he left, the boy gave Yuzu another 100-megawatt smile and even looked like he wanted to give her a hug.

Mei would never admit it even under oath, but she found herself with the same urge sometimes.

* * *

Harumi rubbed her hands to generate some heat as she waited at the stand selling hot beverages.

It was a particularly cold autumn night for the annual Glass Lake Jump. Each year, on the eve of the football match against their biggest rival team, dozens of students jump into the frigid waters of Glass Lake amidst hundreds of spectators cheering them on.

_Lake_ was a misnomer, because it was really just a large manmade pond near the main library. This activity was technically illegal, but it was one of the biggest student traditions in their school, going on for more than fifty years, since the beginning of their football rivalry.

The sisters of Chi Theta Sigma were expressly prohibited by their president from actively participating in the tradition, but they were all here to watch and cheer the brave and foolhardy souls who were jumping into Glass Lake.

Clutching two paper cups of hot apple cider in her hands, Harumi pushed through a throng of people before she was able to reach her sisters gathered near a lamp post. Her eyes swept the group for Yuzu, wanting to give her the hot drink which was burning her hand.

Harumi spotted Yuzu, then noticed the guy beside her. He was hard to miss with his height and broad shoulders. He was grinning broadly at Yuzu, deep dimples puncturing his chubby cheeks. He looked like a huge, cuddly teddy bear. What an adorable cutie.

* * *

A sour ball of utter disdain curdled in Mei's stomach as she regarded the fuckboy talking to Yuzu.

That backwards baseball cap and letter jacket made him look like every dudebro in this damn school. The way he puffed his chest out to bring attention to his pecs disgusted Mei.

But seeing Yuzu stare at the fuckboy's chest made Mei's chest burn.

God, she hated these things. She just wanted this stupid event to be over so she could go back to the house and study. She had better things to do with her night than watch these two _idiots _flirt with each other.

Just, _ugh._

* * *

"So is this your first semester here? I've never seen you around campus before," the tall cutie asked Yuzu. He continued with a genuine smile and a shy tilt of his head, "And I'm pretty sure I would have noticed someone like you."

Harumi, who was standing in front of the two, saw Mei Aihara's mouth twist and eyes roll at the pretty boy's line.

_Interesting. _

Shifting her weight on one leg, Harumi casually turned her body so that Mei was fully in her line of sight. She had an uncanny sense about these things, and she wanted to see if one of the weird things that she's been noticing lately would happen again.

"Yeah, this is my first semester. I transferred from UCLA," Yuzu replied, an easy smile sliding up her face and reaching her eyes.

Harumi's eyes snapped from Yuzu and the dude to Mei and back again to Yuzu. Mei was standing a little off to the side of the couple, watching the undergrads jump into Glass Lake, but it was clear that she was listening to their conversation. Her face looked like it was carved from stone, but a vein was throbbing on her forehead.

"Oh sweet. What part of California are you from?"

"Orange County."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked slightly back and forth on his feet, like he was a huge tree swaying in the wind, pulled by some gravitational force towards Yuzu.

"That's pretty different from these parts, huh? You ever feel homesick?" He dropped his voice a whole octave lower to say, "Lonely?"

And what happened next was what Harumi had been watching out for. A move that Harumi called Yuzu's _Flip and Smolder. _

"Well," Yuzu drew out the syllable in a purr, at the same time tilting her head back to expose the pale column of her throat. Almost as if the sound was her cue, Mei's eyes snapped towards Yuzu, greedily taking in the exposed lines of the blonde's neck.

Harumi observed Yuzu transition smoothly into the next move: slip her right hand to the back of her head, then flip her hair to the front, her fingers slowly dragging through golden strands before she let them fall like a silk curtain, draped over her shoulder. Mei's eyes tracked the movement like a starving lion watches a gazelle prance around in front of it.

"I guess it can be a little lonely sometimes, being in a new school." Yuzu tilted her head down and lowered her dark eyelashes, the light from the lamppost making the expertly applied purple eyeshadow shimmer. Yuzu _really_ knew her angles.

Harumi watched in muted fascination as Yuzu delivered the _coup de grace_. With the tips of her fingers, she brushed some strands away from her forehead. Peering up through her lashes she said, "But I'm hoping that some people will warm up to me."

Tall Dude looked like he was going to pop a boner right there and then, but what he didn't catch was Yuzu locking her gaze with Mei in a super intense stare that they held for several long seconds.

Harumi bit her lip to prevent it from curling into a snicker as she watched Mei Aihara look more flustered than she had ever seen her. The sorority president looked like she was going to overheat.

Harumi filed away another instance of the _Flip and Smolder._ All the other times she saw Yuzu execute the move was when Mei Aihara was standing beside her.

_This was going to be a very interesting year._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I'm back on my bullshit with another Citrus AU. I've had this idea in my mind for a long time, and I finally had to write it to get it out of my head. I love the premise of Yuzu and Mei being in a sorority because it checks off some of my favorite fanfic tropes for Citrus:

1\. my god, they were roommates

2\. Pseudo sisters

3\. Enemies to lovers

4\. possibility for Jealous Mei

And honestly, I really wanted to write Yuzu and Mei as adults, and I was getting kinda exhausted writing about a Japanese high school. I have never attended high school in Japan or even lived there. I have, however, attended/worked at three different universities in the Big10. I don't name the university that this story is set in, but just imagine a large, top-tier public university in the American Midwest where football is king. Oh, and I totally made up the name of the sorority, basically I pulled the Greek letters for the abbreviation of Citrus – CTS: Chi Theta Sigma.

The title of this fic comes from a line in the song "La Vie Boheme" from the Broadway musical RENT. I stan Idina Menzel so hard.

Drop me a comment/review if you have any feedback!


	2. one's first love

Mei Aihara didn't particularly hate house parties, but she didn't really like them either. When she was at one, it was mostly whatever. Like many decisions in her life, she thought of attending parties as a social transaction, weighing the opportunity cost of each party before making a decision of attending or not. If she went to a particular party, it would simply mean less time doing something productive like studying or reviewing the sorority's budget. But she also knew that as a sorority president, she was obliged to show her face at a couple of parties each semester.

Picking at the label of her Dirty Bastard, she wondered why she agreed to come to this party at all. It wasn't one of the "important" parties that she felt she had to make an appearance at. And she totally had a ton more to do for her case study report due on Monday.

She peeled a corner of the label from her beer bottle, but before it could even be lifted halfway, the metallic paper tore off. Crumpling the tiny wad of paper in her hand, she crushed the nagging feeling that she knew _why _she was here in this party.

At least it wasn't a frat party. It was a house party thrown by Madison, the sister who decided she wasn't going to live at their sorority house anymore a couple of weeks before fall semester started.

She certainly was _not _here because Yuzu spent two hours picking out her outfit, doing her hair, and putting on her make up.

It wasn't like she felt a pang deep in her chest when she imagined herself alone in their room working on her report while Yuzu went to her first party since transferring here. That would be ridiculous. She didn't care if her roommate was out partying and getting drunk and meeting new people or whatever.

No, she was here because this was a party thrown by one of her sorority sisters, and it would have looked bad if she didn't come visit at her new house.

"Yeah! Booya, bitches!" a female voice yelled over the din of the party. Mei heard Yuzu's loud groan in response.

Mei turned her head towards the sound. There was a crush of bodies that obscured her vision of the beer pong table, but it looked like Yuzu and Harumi had lost their game.

She had been sitting in this gross couch for the last 25 minutes. Mei stood up and walked towards the beer pong table.

Standing on the opposite end of the beer pong table from Yuzu and Harumi were the apparent winners of the game, Ben and one of the female housemates. The ombre wash of her pink hair caught Mei's eye.

Mei noted that the aforementioned girl was very pretty, her pixie features complementing her shoulder-length platinum blond hair that gradually turned into light pink from the mid-shaft down to the tips. Objectively, the girl was stunning, but Mei didn't like her dangerous prowl as she approached her two sorority sisters.

"All right ladies, time to pay up," drawled the pink-haired girl as she sauntered over to the other side of the table. "Like we agreed beforehand, I'm the one who'll collect on the bet."

Harumi placed a hand on the table and leaned on it. Rolling her eyes, she said, "Yes, Matsuri, we remember the terms."

Whoever this Matsuri was, she was trouble, Mei decided. She wondered what they had bet on. And why did Harumi and Yuzu agree to play against Ben and this Matsuri? They obviously looked like they spent every weekend playing beer pong. Mei felt her irritation spike. _Just like Yuzu to get hustled._

"Good," Matsuri said with a pleased smile. "Okay," she pointed to Yuzu then Harumin. "So which one of you…?"

Yuzu and Harumin looked at each other. The slightest look of consternation flashed across Harumi's face, and Yuzu, being a good friend, decided to take the fall. She didn't mind. She was pretty tipsy at this point. She drank more of the cups from the game of beer pong than Harumi.

"I'll do it," Yuzu said, turning towards Matsuri. She stepped closer to Matsuri and looked down at her with a smirk. "Bring it, shorty."

"You're going to do what?" flew from Mei's mouth, before she could think twice.

All three girls turned to look at her, surprised at her sharp tone. They hadn't noticed her standing there.

"Body shot," Matsuri answered, sticking her hands in her back pockets. "Winner does a body shot on the losing team."

"That's dumb," Mei remarked, deadpan.

Matsuri knit her eyebrows and cocked her head. She regarded Mei for a long moment.

Shrugging, she said, "Dumb or not, they agreed to it. So, yeah." With that, she turned on her heels and walked towards the kitchen where the liquor was set up.

Mei gnashed her teeth. _Dumb, dumb._ _So dumb. Why would anyone play beer bong to get to do a body shot?!_

She was about to ask her two sisters why they even agreed to this harebrained idea, when Matsuri came back with a bottle of tequila, a salt shaker, and a little bowl of lime slices.

"Okay, Yuzu, where you wanna do this?" Matsuri asked, holding up the Jose Cuervo by the neck and shaking it a little, making the amber liquid slosh around.

Yuzu thought for a moment, then pointed her thumb to the beer pong table behind her. "Here's fine."

Mei's chest started to constrict as she watched Harumi and Yuzu start to clear their side of the table of red solo cups. The muscles in her chest felt too tight, like it was too restrictive to breathe. A small crowd started to gather, interested in watching two girls drink tequila off of each other.

There were two dudebros who looked particularly enthusiastic about the little show they were about to witness. One guy started chanting _shots, shots, shots, shots, shots,_ and the other guy pumped his fist in the air. Mei glared at them with so much venom that they visibly deflated. Chant guy got quieter and quieter until he stopped completely and Fist guy slowly lowered his hand. Satisfied that they both looked chagrined, Mei returned her attention to Yuzu. Oh, and Harumi.

Yuzu pressed the small of her back against the edge of table and hopped up to sit on it. Matsuri positioned herself so that her stomach was right in front of Yuzu's kneecaps, holding up the tequila in one hand and the salt and lime in the other.

Watching the shorter girl, Mei decided that Matsuri was a basic bitch. She was also vile. She probably prowled parties luring unsuspecting sorority girls into games of beer pong so she could do perverted things to them. _What a horrible person._

Yuzu slowly opened her legs, and Matsuri came closer. When Yuzu shyly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, Mei felt like a sharp fishhook got snagged in her heart and was trying to yank the organ out of her chest.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yuzu squealed, laughing as Matsuri laid a hand on her shoulder to lay her back on top of the table.

A roaring had started in Mei's ears, and she found herself stifling the strong urge to reach out and snatch Matsuri's hand off of Yuzu_. Don't touch her. Don't you fucking touch her. Take. Your. Hands. Off. Of. Her._

Shaking her head and giggling, Yuzu insisted, "I don't want you to pour the tequila on my stomach. I don't want to get super sticky. Use a shot glass."

A few of the spectators made disappointed sounds at Yuzu's refusal to do the variation of the body shot where the shooter drinks up the tequila from the other person's navel, but Matsuri simply shrugged and yelled, "Someone get me a shot glass!"

A shot glass was procured from the kitchen by one of the enthusiastic dudebros, and Matsuri took it and poured the shot. She handed it to Yuzu, who took it with a coy smile.

A prickling heat crawled up Mei's veins as Yuzu carefully placed the shot glass between her boobs. The blonde was wearing a push-up bra, and so her breasts were sitting high and proud on her chest.

Mei's eyes were glued to Yuzu's rack, the shot glass of translucent amber liquid acting like some kind of hypnotic device, clearly. At that moment, the little glass nestled between the two creamy mounds looked like the single most appetizing thing in the world to Mei. Her mouth watered as she imagined her own lips touching the rim of the shot glass between Yuzu's boobs and draining the tequila down her throat.

Mei felt _parched_. Like, she really, really needed a drink. She raised her bottle to her lips and took a long pull of her beer. It burned all the way down, but didn't sate her thirst or calm her nerves.

"Get it, Matsuri!"

Turning back to the scene of her own personal nightmare, she saw Yuzu still seated on the edge of the table, but leaning back a little, hands flat on the table at her sides. Her shirt was pulled up to the bottom of her breasts, and Matsuri was shaking a line of salt up the right side of Yuzu's stomach.

Matsuri plucked a slice of lime from the bowl and held it up against Yuzu's mouth, making intense eye contact with the blonde as she did this. Yuzu parted her lips and took the slice in her mouth.

Now Mei couldn't tear her eyes away from those soft red lips, the ones she watched as Yuzu expertly applied strawberry-flavored lip gloss on earlier. Her own lips tingled and burned at the sight of those lips wrapped around the rind of the green citrus fruit.

How does sucking on a lime feel like, exactly? How does it counteract the burn of the tequila? Does it nullify it, or make it hotter? Mei felt the strong urge to know. For research purposes, of course.

"Okay babe, here we go." Matsuri winked at Yuzu before lowering her head to the blonde's exposed stomach.

Mei's heart started to race as she watched Matsuri's tongue slowly lick salt off of Yuzu's skin, tracing the diagonal line of her obliques. By the time Matsuri finished licking the salt and straightened up, Mei's pulse was pounding painfully in her chest.

Mei tipped the bottle onto her lips and downed the rest of her beer. Her head started to buzz.

When she turned back, Matsuri had already taken the glass from Yuzu's boob shelf and was knocking back the shot in one smooth, practiced swallow.

_Fucking alcoholic._

When Matsuri leaned towards Yuzu's face, the peripherals of Mei's vision started to burn red.

Two pairs of lips connected for several long seconds as Matsuri drew the lime into her mouth. Mei felt like she was frozen in time forced to watch a horrifying train wreck. The kind where you desperately want to look away but can't tear your eyes away from the carnage.

Arctic blue eyes flicked up to meet hers for one terrible moment. Matsuri had her lips pressed up against Yuzu's mouth while giving her an icy glare.

Beside her, Harumi made a disgruntled sound.

Matsuri pulled back from Yuzu, the lime slice caught between her teeth. After removing it from her mouth, she licked her lips, while staring lasciviously at Yuzu.

Mei fantasized about murder.

* * *

When Matsuri caught her eye while she was sucking face with Yuzu, Harumin couldn't help but scoff in exasperation.

_This girl._ Harumi shook her head as she watched the pink haired girl's smug expression after she completed the body shot. _I suppose I'm to blame for half of this. _

_I did sleep with her after all. _

_But that was one time! Who would have known that she would be like, obsessed with me? _

They slept together after a party during the third weekend of the fall semester. Harumi remembered the date because it was after the first home football game of the season. That was like two months ago. It never happened again, but ever since then…it was clear that Matsuri wanted a round two with her. Or wanted _something. _

The pink-haired girl would show up at events where she was at, trying to get her attention in a myriad of ways.

One of those ways was currently underway. Flexing on other girls right in front of her, like it would inspire so much jealousy that she would be compelled to make out with her again.

Harumi felt a groan itching the back of her throat. Just her luck to attract a disaster lesbian like Matsuri Mizusawa.

Speaking of disaster lesbians, Harumi turned to look at Mei beside her. The sorority president looked like she wanted to dump gasoline all over the floor and set fire to everyone in this room. _Geez._

She followed Mei's gaze, back towards Matsuri very obviously flirting with Yuzu on the beer pong table. It looked like the little troublemaker was trying to convince Yuzu to do a body shot on _her. _

Another glance at Mei told her that she needed to intervene. _The things I do for my sisters. I really deserve the Sweetheart Award this year. _

Harumi walked over to the two girls. Against Matsuri's ear, she said quietly, "Hey. Wanna get outta here?"

* * *

Yuzu was standing at the kitchen island pouring Grey Goose into a solo cup of lemonade when she felt a tug on a belt loop on her side. She first glanced down to her hips, saw two pale fingers curled around the belt loop, then looked up the body attached to the hand…and was face to face with Mei. She looked pretty faded.

But Yuzu also noticed that her eyes were dark, darker than she'd ever seen them. They burned with intent, something she couldn't place at the moment.

"Oh, hey Mei. Having fun?"

Mei didn't say anything, but simply tugged on her belt loop again.

"What?" Yuzu asked, confusion lilting her voice.

"I need to talk to you," the brunette answered, in that tone that Yuzu recognized as _you're in trouble. _"Now."

Sighing loudly, Yuzu put down the bottle of vodka and followed Mei. _What did I do now?_

Mei went down the hallway near the entrance of the house, opened a door, and stepped inside.

Frowning, Yuzu walked up to the open doorway and said, "Why are we going into the bathroom?"

She felt Mei's hands grab her around her biceps and pull her inside the room. The door slammed close. She was so surprised that she stepped back from the girl in reflex.

"Uh, Mei? Is something wrong?"

Her breath caught in her throat when her roommate closed the distance between them, and she found herself pressed between Mei and the bathroom counter. She felt like Mei was all around her, like she couldn't escape if she wanted to. _Oh my god what is happening?_

Mei had a very interesting expression on her face. She looked hella mad, like she wanted to smack Yuzu across the face.

But she could now see, in Mei's face, dark desire had been carefully hidden behind that stoic façade. And for some reason, tonight, at this loud, grubby house party, something had _cracked._

The raven-haired girl leaned in closer to her, and she could feel her breath ghost over her mouth. It sent a shudder rippling from Yuzu's core all the way to the base of her skull.

"Nothing's wrong," Mei said with a raise of an elegant eyebrow. "Although it looked like you're having all the fun"

Yuzu attempted to chuckle, but it came out too high and airy, making her sound way drunker than she actually was. "Oh you mean the body shot?"

"Yes, the body shot. Looked like it was tons of fun," Mei remarked.

Yuzu felt Mei's fingers touch her jaw. Then they moved to grip her chin firmly.

"Y-yeah…" Yuzu whispered. "It was cool." The way Mei was staring at her mouth prevented her from coming up with a more intelligent reply.

Mei's thumb dragged across her bottom lip. A jolt of pleasure ran through her, shooting straight to her core, where it pulsed into a distinct ache. The raven-haired girl brushed her lips with her thumb a few more times, and she realized that Mei was trying to wipe the citrus juice from her mouth. Like it displeased her. Like she was trying to erase an unpleasant image from her memory.

_Does Mei have something against body shots? Or tequila and lime? _

Yuzu didn't have time to ponder these questions because the next thing she knew Mei crashed their lips together.

She felt the world tip on its axis – and she wasn't entirely sure if it was because she had too much to drink or because Mei Aihara was _kissing _her.

Mei swept her tongue across her bottom lip, and Yuzu parted her lips with a small moan. Her hands flew to the front of Mei's shirt, fisting the fabric, pulling the girl closer.

Mei's tongue entered her mouth as if they had both been fantasizing about this moment for months. She felt Mei's hands slip under her shirt and grip around her ribcage, and the contact on her flushed skin tore another moan from her throat, the sound vibrating against Mei's mouth.

The sorority president was clearly intent in dominating their kiss. And Yuzu was perfectly happy with this arrangement, letting Mei angle her head to deepen their kiss. Pleasure licked around the corners of her brain as she tasted Mei's sweet mouth, reveling in the way her soft lips brushed against hers.

Then, almost as suddenly as the kiss began- it ended.

Yuzu gripped the bathroom counter to steady herself, her knees weak, as Mei stepped away from her. The girl now had an inscrutable expression on her face as she smoothed the front of her shirt.

"Well, which one was better – this kiss or that body shot?" Mei asked, as if she was asking what TV show Yuzu wanted to watch.

"This," Yuzu breathed, still floored. "Way better."

The door opened, and Mei was gone. After several minutes, Yuzu emerged from the bathroom, headed back to the kitchen, and found her solo cup where she left it on the center island. Adding another pour of vodka into the cup, she raised it to her lips and took a long draught.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

One of the inspirations for this chapter is that infamous scene in the manga/anime where Mei sees Matsuri kiss Yuzu. I consider this the birth of Jealous Mei, and really the most tangible piece of evidence from canon that Mei can and does get jealous over Yuzu.

Although what she does next—kiss Matsuri to "take back the kiss" she stole from Yuzu—I always found hilarious and nonsensical. It just makes _no_ sense to kiss the person who kissed the person you like. Because...that's not taking back anything, that's just kissing the person you hate! Which just leads me to believe that Mei just lost her shit at that moment.

Anyway, thank you for your comments/reviews as always! Please let me know your thoughts about this AU story if you have any!


	3. love my sisterxxx

It was around noon on a Sunday at the Chi Theta Sigma sorority house, and about half of the sisters in residence were in the kitchen eating a late breakfast.

Yuzu was perched on one of the bar stools along one side of the large kitchen island, mechanically chewing on a piece of dry toast. Her head was pounding and her stomach felt queasy. Like several of her sisters, she was nursing a hangover. Not the debilitating kind; she didn't get totally wasted at Madison's party last night.

But she certainly needed several hard drinks after Mei dragged her into the bathroom and soundly _kissed _her.

The sensory memory of Mei's body pressed up against hers, hands gripping her waist under her shirt, tongue stroking hers flashed into her mind, and she suddenly felt dizzy. And that wasn't from the hangover.

Yuzu couldn't find Mei at the party after that. After about half an hour of covertly searching for Mei in all the rooms of the house, the blonde had to accept the fact that her roommate had probably gone home. Harumi was also nowhere to be found, and so Yuzu parked her butt on the couch and sulkily drank cranberry vodkas with two Chemical Engineering dudes until the rest of her sorority sisters were ready to go back home. She would have absolutely gone back home earlier (and confront her roommate), but she stupidly forgot her phone at the sorority house and couldn't take an Uber by herself.

When she finally arrived at the house, she sprinted up the stairs to her bedroom on the third floor. She barely managed to keep the door from banging against the wall when she threw it open.

Mei was in bed, fast asleep.

Yuzu hesitated at the door. She resisted the urge to march over to Mei's bed and shake her awake and say, _tell me exactly what that kiss meant…. how are you just sleeping right now? _

But she couldn't, of course. Not unless she wanted to die. Mei had put the fear of God in her the very first night they spent as roommates. She informed Yuzu to never wake her when she was sleeping, the only exception if there was a four-alarm fire in their house.

When Yuzu woke up that morning, she was alone in the room. She glanced at Mei's empty bed, neatly made with military corners.

The blonde got up and snatched a baby blue Chi Theta Sigma hoodie from the foot of her bed. She ran down the stairs to the first floor while pulling on the hoodie. She stopped at the window facing the back of the house, scanning the parking lot for Mei's silver Audi.

_Okay. Mei's here. _

And now here she was, nonchalantly eating breakfast with the rest of her sisters. Waiting for a certain raven-haired sorority president to show up. A raven-haired sorority president who she totally made out with in a bathroom at a party last night.

After a few minutes of anxiously fidgeting on the barstool, Mei suddenly appeared in Yuzu's line of sight. The sorority president walked up to the refrigerator and opened the door.

_Be cool. _

Yuzu's body was frozen, but her eyes tracked Mei's movements across the kitchen. She watched her pour a half cup of frozen blueberries and shove several stalks of kale into a bullet blender. Yuzu painfully swallowed the bite in dry toast in her mouth.

Yuzu noted Mei's salmon-colored cashmere sweater, carefully pressed white capri pants and tan ballet flats. Her sleek black hair was draped her over the front of her shoulder, not a strand out of place. She looked super put together and chic, per usual. _Not_ like she just rolled out of bed and wearing Yuzubocchi pajamas and a too-big hoodie.

_Be cool. Quit acting like you have no game. _

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, leaned back against the back of the bar stool, and groaned, "Ugghh got so drunk last night you guys. My liver is going to need like a few days to recover."

Kayla chuckled beside her, putting down her half-eaten Little Debbie cupcake. "Yeah, the party was lit. I'm glad I went."

"What she means is, she made out with that cutie in the yellow shirt," Blaire snickered, grabbing Kayla's cupcake bit from the countertop and popping it in her mouth.

Yuzu's gaze darted towards Mei. Her roommate still had her back to her. No acknowledgement of her presence in the kitchen.

Which was not out of the ordinary. Mei rarely spoke to her unless it was necessary. Yuzu's eyebrows knitted and her mouth twisted.

Blaire turned to her with a playful smirk. "What about you, Yuzu? Any action? I saw you talking with Drew."

"Ummm," Yuzu hummed as her mind tumbled over possible replies to this question.

In her peripheral vision, she watched Mei sit down on a chair at the long dining table beside Himeko. The two started talking over their healthy food. Mei still hadn't as much as spared a glance her way. A cold trickle of dread snaked into her stomach.

"Well," Yuzu stalled. She chuckled lightly. _What do I say? Oh yah, I got some action all right. Mei Aihara, our president, french kissed me in the bathroom. It was great. I would have totally let her go to second base._

Blaire and Kayla were looking at her expectantly. They weren't looking at her like they expected her to confess to some sordid sexcapade the night before, but to just answer the question. It was her damn turn to speak.

Yuzu cut her eyes towards Mei again. Girl was sitting primly in her chair, daintily drinking her blueberry kale smoothie with a compostable paper straw, the picture of wholesome preppy sorority girl. Mei still hadn't deigned to spare a glance her way.

She didn't need to have a 4.0 GPA to realize that their kiss last night wasn't something she should blurt out in the middle of breakfast as everyone was nursing their hangovers.

"Nah, Drew's cute and all, but I wasn't feeling it. Maybe next time," Yuzu mumbled.

Kayla leaned forward and cupped her chin on the palm of her hand. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Yeah? Well what about that girl who did that body shot on you. You hit that or nah?"

Still watching her roommate, Yuzu could have sworn Mei reacted at the mention of Matsuri. Her back stiffened and her chest hitched. But just as quickly, it was gone. Was she imagining things? Wishful thinking? _Shit, probably._

"Oh, haha. Nah," Yuzu replied, her voice sounding too forced even to her own ears. "But that was fun. I wouldn't mind a round two."

Mei Aihara continued to give her full attention to Himeko and no one else. She eventually got up from the table and placed her bullet cup in the dishwashing machine.

As she watched Mei exit the kitchen, Yuzu clenched her jaw so hard it almost cracked. Her roommate didn't look her way, not even once.

_So that's how you wanna play it? Fine. _

* * *

Harumin quickly walked up the circular driveway of the Chi Theta Sigma sorority house, an enormous building constructed in the Greek Revival style, as was the case for most of the houses on this street nicknamed _Frat Row_. Out of the seventeen fraternities and sororities on Washtenaw Avenue, Chi Theta Sigma had the largest and grandest house.

Harumin slowed down as she went up the porch that extended on the whole front of the house, with three towering white-washed Ionic columns on either side of the door. She cracked open the door a few inches and listened for sounds of people in the foyer.

Hearing nothing, Harumin quickly slipped inside and carefully shut the door behind her with a quiet click. The faint sound of voices confirmed to her that the girls were in the kitchen. She walked up the stairs as fast as she could without making a sound.

After entering her room, she stripped off her clothes from the night before, tossing them into the hamper by her desk. As she reached into her closet for her favorite sweater, she caught her reflection in the mirror attached to the cabinet door.

"Goddamit Matsuri," she hissed, tilting her head to the side to stare at the the dark red bruise right above her collarbone. She stuffed the v-neck sweater back into the closet. Searching for a shirt with a high collar, Harumi grumbled, "I told you, no fucking hickies."

An image of the younger woman beneath her, her pink ombré hair fanned out on the pillow, rose to the front of her mind unbidden. Ice blue eyes staring up at her, pupils blown wide with arousal, arms wrapped around her neck. Harumi moved inside her, and Matsuri's eyes fluttered closed, a moan slipping out of her parted lips. When she started to approach her peak, she leaned forward and started to suck on Harumi's clavicle like she was trying to draw blood.

Harumi checked her reflection in the mirror to make sure her sweater covered her her collarbone. There was a dusting of pink over her cheeks. _Great._

The brunette whipped around to face the door when she heard someone barge in.

"Harumi!" Yuzu cried. "Where the heck did you go last night? I was looking all over for you."

_Well, I had to drag Matsuri away from you, but I forgot that she literally lived in that house…so we went upstairs to her room._

"Oh, Matsuri and I were hungry, so we left."

Yuzu gave her friend a suspicious side-eye.

"…and ate out."

"Okay so why didn't you bring me along? You know I love me a late night taco." Yuzu rolled her eyes and shook her head. She swatted the air like she was dismissing a situation that didn't quite add up, but didn't have the mental bandwidth to deal with at the moment. "Whatever. Holy crap dude, I need your advice!"

"I am a wise sage. Shoot." Harumi grinned and leaned against the door of the closet.

Yuzu plopped down on Harumi's bed, her shoulders slumped. Her brows knitted together and her eyes darted around the room, and Harumi could practically hear the gears in the blonde's head turning.

"All right. Let's say that there's this person, who kinda acts like they hate me, they're always glaring at me and criticizing my clothes and how I spend my time… but sometimes I feel like there's something _else_ going on between us that's not just pure hate."

Clearly getting worked up over her own story, Yuzu's eyes widened and her hands start gesticulating. "Like there's this incredible sexual tension between us but I'm not 100% sure if it's really there or I'm just imagining it? But sometimes I catch this person looking at me and it's like they want to _raw _me."

Harumi's eye twitched. She did not need the mental image of Yuzu getting _rawed_ by this mysterious "person." Sighing, she asked, "You're talking about Mei, right?"

Yuzu bit her lip and was silent for a while. Then with a pitiful expression on her face, she nodded frantically.

"Oh sweetie," Harumi said in a pitying tone.

Yuzu dramatically flopped on her back on Harumi's bed, her arms flung out to her sides. "You don't understand! Something happened last night!"

"Okay, tell me what happened."

"She kissed me. Like full-on, honest to god, kissed me, with _tongue_." Yuzu stressed that last word.

Harumi stared at the blonde lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. "Hmm. Interesting."

Cautiously, Harumi asked, "Was she…drunk?"

Yuzu lifted her head from the mattress to scowl at her. "Yeah, she was drunk." Then she looked away, trying to hide the hurt expression that overtook her face. "And now she wants to act like it didn't happen."

Harumi nodded sympathetically and sat down on the foot of the bed beside Yuzu's bent knees. With a rueful smile, she patted the blonde's kneecap. "I'm sorry babe. But I'm sure you realize that straight girls get drunk at parties and then make out with other girls all the time. It's like, practically a rite of passage in college."

There was a distressed sound from the back of Yuzu's throat. The blonde curled her hands into fists and banged them against the mattress. "This is such bullshit! I don't understand her! She can't just mess with my head like that."

"I know, babe. It's kind of a dick move. But I don't think she was being malicious about it. Alcohol makes you do stupid things. Really, we should all never drink again."

Yuzu giggled at that.

Harumin squeezed her friend's knee. "Don't read too much into it, okay? I mean it's weird that Mei got so faded to the point that she did something she regretted. But I don't know, maybe she's just under a lot of stress."

Yuzu sat up from the bed. She laid her head on Harumi's shoulder and said bitterly, "Yeah, yeah. I'm just gonna play her game and act like nothing happened."

* * *

Harumi's good advice flew out the window the next time Yuzu had a heated argument with her roommate. Mei was again ragging on Yuzu about her flightiness, impulsivity, disregard for rules, etc. etc. In a fit of anger, Yuzu reached for the ace up her sleeve.

"If you think I'm so terrible, why did you kiss me then?"

Yuzu flung the words across their shared bedroom, mentally smacking Mei on the face with her question.

But instead of recoiling, Mei's shoulders rolled back and her lip curled into a sneer. "I did it because you were acting like a fool at that party. Kissing you seemed like an easy way to shut you up for a few minutes."

Yuzu's eyes widened and her mouth fell. "You're fucking awful."

Crossing her arms across her chest, Mei agreed. "Maybe so."

* * *

After that particular confrontation, Yuzu spent noticeably less time in their room.

During the week the blonde would be out all day, attending classes, going to the gym on campus, hanging out with Harumi, and participating in all their sorority events. She never did her homework in their room like Mei did, instead going to the Starbucks down the street or in the study lounge on the first floor of their house.

* * *

It was a Friday afternoon, and Mei walked into their room to find Yuzu in front of their vanity table with a curling iron in her hair. Both her hands were occupied with the task of curling a golden lock of hair into a loose wave, and she was speaking into her phone that was pinched between her cheek and shoulder.

"I figure we can go to Dusty's and grab a burger if the wait isn't over half an hour, and then I told Sam we would pregame at their place before hitting up Chrome Bar."

Mei's mouth twisted as she pulled out her laptop from her bookbag. She wished Yuzu would hurry up and finish getting dressed, and get the heck out of here. The sooner the blonde left to kick off her weekend of partying, the better.

She willfully ignored Yuzu's presence as she sat on her bed, leaning back against the headboard and started going through the many emails she received from the Panhellenic council about Charity Week.

"I'm wearing that blue dress from Topshop. It makes my tits look _great_," Yuzu giggled in the phone.

Mei's heart clenched painfully. She double-tapped the trackpad to hit the Reply button with more force than necessary.

"Do you think I should wear my black stilettos with the 4-inch heels? Or is that too much for our night?"

A snide comment started to bubble up from the pit Mei's stomach, something along the lines of _well your 'fuck me heels' will send a pretty clear message_, threatening to spill from her mouth and lash towards the blonde. Her eyes snapped up from her laptop, but the words immediately died on her tongue. Yuzu was leaning over the vanity to peer into the mirror, the cleavage of the aforementioned blue dress indeed making her tits look great. Her mouth slightly parted, she was applying sheer lip gloss over her lipstick.

Mei's throat dried up as she continued to stare at the blonde drag the brush along her plump red lips. She was applying the gloss in thin layers, and Mei couldn't tear her eyes away from those luscious ribbons of flesh getting wetter and shinier with each pass of the wand.

She knew how those lips felt and tasted. So incredibly soft and sweet. How Yuzu's mouth parted so easily for her tongue. Heat started to gather between her thighs.

Yuzu plunged the wand back into the lip gloss tube with a sharp snap.

Mei's gaze dropped back to the screen on her lap. Annoyance pinched her features.

"Okay, okay, I'll wear them if you wear yours." Yuzu stood on one foot as she held her phone to her ear with one hand and slipped on a black stiletto with the other. "All right, I'm ready. Meet me downstairs in one minute."

At the doorway with her back to her, Yuzu said, "Later, Mei. Have a good night."

The door closed before Mei could have a chance to respond. Not that she would have.

Now that her roommate left for her usual weekend of partying, she could finally drown herself in her work in peace.

* * *

Mei didn't see Yuzu again for the rest of the weekend.

On Sunday night, the blonde strolled in wearing a bomber jacket and distressed jeans that were ripped from mid-shin to upper thigh. Mei wondered when she had come back into their room and changed. But she wasn't about to ask, obviously. She didn't give a flying fuck where the blonde went and what she did.

Besides, Yuzu was in no condition to have a conversation. As soon as she walked into their room, she slipped off her espadrille wedge sandals, crawled into her bed, and promptly fell asleep.

Mei knew that as usual, the blonde would spend at least the next twelve hours recovering from her weekend bender.

From across the room, Mei stared at the sheet-covered lump on her roommate's bed, blond locks spilling across the pillow. A pang of sadness stabbed through her chest as she watched the blonde sleep.

But she was glad it was Sunday night.

* * *

It was early Friday evening of Halloween weekend, and like the majority of college students across America, the sisters of Chi Theta Sigma were getting ready for a round of costume parties.

The sisters were gathered in the formal living room to see everyone's costumes before they headed out. They also needed to take pictures of the costumed girls so that it could go on the sorority's website and Facebook page.

Mei, who was not wearing a costume, was the designated photographer.

It wasn't hard for Mei to spot Yuzu. Even in a room full of girls dressed up in all manners of costume, the blonde was a definite head-turner. After she took photos of most of the girls, she made her way towards Yuzu and Harumi.

Mei took a good look at Yuzu's get up for a couple of seconds. She told herself that it was fine for her to look right now, because Yuzu was in costume.

"And who are you supposed to be? Is this a character from a comic or something?" Mei asked with a tilt of her head.

Yuzu was wearing brown leather knee-high motorcycle boots over yellow thigh-high socks. Tiny black lycra shorts hugged her lips, and a sheer white half-skirt hung from the sides of a wide brown leather belt. A bright yellow tube top over her breasts peeked out from between the lapels of a cropped brown jacket with puffy sleeves. About half of her midriff was bare. She wore yellow gauntlets that covered her wrists to the middle of her forearm. The whole look was topped off by an orange scarf around her neck.

"It's from an animated show called RWBY. This character is the most badass in the whole show," Yuzu said with a smile. "She's a huntress and kills monsters with these." She held up her wrists to show Mei the gauntlets. "They turn into super-powered shotguns."

Nodding, Mei turned to Harumi. The girl had black cat ears poking out from the top of her head. "And you're a…. sexy cat."

Harumi smirked and placed her hand on her hip. "No, I'm another character from the same show. She's also a huntress."

"Uh huh." Mei nodded. _Looks like a sexy cat to me._ _How original._

She took their picture in front of the large fireplace that had the sorority's gold-plated letters attached to the wall over the mantle.

"Not going out tonight?" Yuzu asked after she looked at the picture from Mei's phone.

Mei knew that her roommate was aware that she wasn't going out tonight. It irritated her that the blonde would ask such a pointless question. Why was it so hard to believe that she didn't like going out on the weekends? That she hated loud, drunken parties where the only thing for her to do was stare at people getting high or grind on each other?

"No," Mei snapped, turning away. "I have better things to do."

* * *

It was half past midnight, and Mei was still awake. She finished working on her Econ report a while ago, finally reaching her limit for the night. She would have normally gone to sleep as soon as she closed the lid of her Macbook, but she was feeling restless and edgy so she decided to read in bed until she fell asleep.

She was twenty pages into Ruth Bader Ginsberg's biography but she still wasn't the least bit sleepy. Mei sighed and turned the page. She tried to concentrate on what she was reading but her mind kept drifting.

_Party lights flashing, catching on a mane of luxurious blond hair. Long dark lashes coquettishly lowered over dark emerald eyes. Tiny black shorts hugging the curves of a narrow waist and sexy hips, bumping and gyrating to the thumping bass of a syncopated beat. The smile on her face is like liquor. An arm snakes across her bare stomach, and someone pulls her close. She leans back against them, presses her body against them and she starts–_

Mei slammed the book close with a bang. She screwed her eyes shut, forcefully quashing the errant images of a sorority girl dancing and drinking at a college Halloween party, all eyes on her. Mei's _seen_ the way people look at this girl when she's in the middle of a dance floor. Her blonde roommate was in the cheer squad in her old university, and it showed. She knew how to dance and move her body in way that commanded attention.

Mei groaned and tossed the book on her bedside table. She lay back on her pillow and glared at the ceiling.

_Ugh. Just go to sleep. What are you doing? You'll be so tired tomorrow for the Charity Week meeting._

The soft click of the doorknob turning was like a gunshot to Mei's ears.

The door swung open, revealing Yuzu leaning heavily against the jamb, holding on to the doorknob to keep herself upright.

Mei's first thought at seeing her roommate was that it was way too early for Yuzu to be home. A big party night like this one, she had expected her to come back at 3am at the earliest.

The doorway was in shadow, as it was beyond the circle of warm orange light from Mei's small bedside lamp, but she could see Yuzu's unfocused, drunk gaze searching the room. Yuzu's gaze eventually found her lying in bed, and the blonde's lips pulled into a smirk.

"Mei," she whispered loudly. Then her voice warbled in a high-pitched singsong note, "Hiiiiii."

A burning lump rose in Mei's throat. She hissed, "You're drunk. I told you to not come back here until you've sobered up."

Yuzu's response was a giggle as she let go of the doorknob and kicked the door close behind her.

"Be quiet," Mei snapped. "I was just about to fall asleep."

A dark coil of tension was tightening in her stomach at the sight of Yuzu slinking around in their room in that ridiculous, revealing outfit.

Mei watched Yuzu prop her foot on top of a storage bench and pull down the zipper of her knee-high motorcycle boots. After repeating the action on her other leg, she pulled off her boots and they landed on the floor with two loud _thunks_. Mei's anger spiked. "You're going to wake up Christine and Lauren if you keep dropping your things on the floor!"

Yuzu turned around to face Mei. With a roll of her eyes, she informed her roommate of the location of the two girls who lived in the room below them. "They're at the Sigma Pi party. They wont be home for hours." Then she pinched the zipper of her jacket and pulled it down, still staring at Mei, as if challenging her to say anything more.

Mei felt her heart slowly relocate to her throat as Yuzu shrugged off the crop jacket from her shoulders. Her roommate now stood a few feet away from her in the yellow tube top covering her breasts, tiny black shorts and the knee-high socks. Despite her standing in the shadows, Mei was able to trace every delicious curve of Yuzu's body with her eyes.

With a huff, she grabbed the top of her blanket and tugged it up to her shoulders. "Seriously, I'm going to sleep now." Grumbling, she threatened, "I'm going to turn off my light."

"Oh, Mei." The blonde drawled, hooking her thumbs on the hem of her shorts. "You're no fun. It's a Saturday night of Halloween weekend, and it's not even 1:00am."

Mei tore her eyes away from Yuzu taking off her bottoms like she had accidentally been staring into a solar eclipse. The image was certainly burned into her retinas.

She felt fury rise in her chest. She was infuriated at Yuzu for being so carefree about undressing in their room. She had no sense of propriety. Why couldn't she change in the bathroom?

A second later, her eyes snapped back, her gaze irresistibly drawn to Yuzu's bent form. She watched Yuzu slowly slide her shorts down her legs and step out of them. The blonde pulled down her shorts so slowly and sensually it was almost like she knew Mei was watching. And that's when she saw it— Yuzu was wearing a black lacy thong underneath.

Mei practically threw herself to the side towards her bedside table. Her hands fumbled for the pull cord on the lamp as she announced, "I don't care if you think I'm totally lame, I'm going to sleep!"

The room was plunged into near darkness after she cut the light from her lamp. A beam of moonlight streaming through a gap in the curtains illuminated Yuzu standing between the two beds in the room.

Mei heard Yuzu chuckle darkly, low and throaty. The sound scraped over her nerves, like sandpaper. A prickling heat unfurled in her stomach.

She screwed her eyes shut and let her head sink into her pillow. She was going to sleep. That's it. No more weirdness.

She heard the rustle of fabric sliding over skin, and in her mind's eye she clearly saw Yuzu pulling off her yellow tube top. A soft _plonk_ from Yuzu's side of the room indicated that she simply flung her garment off after removing it.

Mei's eyes were closed but the image of Yuzu's bare shoulders and upper chest burned in her mind. Her traitorous mind supplied the expanse of creamy white skin and delicate collarbones above the swell of her breasts. She could even picture the strapless bra that the blonde was undoubtedly wearing right now. That nude-colored bra squished together and pushed up Yuzu's boobs in a way that was mouth-watering.

Mei's fingers curled, fisting the sheets at her side. She felt so unnerved and frustrated she could weep.

It was made worse when she sensed Yuzu's presence beside her.

She cracked open her lids, her pulse quickening in her veins. Standing over her bed was Yuzu silhouetted against the moonlight, her features in complete shadow.

"Yuzu, I have a breakfast meeting tomorrow at 8am. I don't care that it's the biggest party night of fall semester. If you're staying in this room, get in bed now because I want to go to sleep," she growled.

Mei didn't mean to sound as angry as she did, but the charged atmosphere in the room was heightening her reactions. Her skin was humming with latent electricity.

It was as if a storm was circling low, thrumming. And her spot on the bed felt like ground zero.

"All right," Yuzu chirped. Taking hold of the edge of Mei's blanket, she lifted it and then slipped under the covers.

There was a little shuffling on Yuzu's part, but she was able to crawl on top of Mei with relative ease. She lifted her leg over Mei's hips and balanced her weight on her elbows on either side of the brunette's head.

Mei was so utterly shocked at finding Yuzu lying on top of her, legs straddling her hips, that she simply laid frozen under the blonde, unable to move, her breath trapped in her chest.

"Hi," Yuzu drawled, and Mei could hear the cocky smile in her voice. The blonde's breath ghosted over her lips, and it sent a bolt of white-hot heat to shoot down her spine.

The need for a response to the greeting jarred Mei from her shock. She almost said _Hi_ back from force of habit, and because her brain still wasn't functioning normally.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mei finally said in a voice that she wished sounded way more angry than it was.

Yuzu chuckled again, and it was the worst. Low and throaty, it did funny things to Mei's stomach.

Bringing her mouth next to Mei's ear, Yuzu husked, "Trick or treat?"

* * *

**Author Notes:**

Thank you to everyone who left me a review for the last chapters! I really appreciate hearing your thoughts on the story.


	4. sisterly love?

"Trick or treat?" Yuzu asked coyly.

The room was dark, but there was enough moonlight bleeding through the curtains for Mei to see the curve of Yuzu's smile, glinting like a knife. She wondered how deep it could cut her open.

She inhaled deeply, shoring up the energy for her righteous anger and indignation.

_How dare_ Yuzu just climb in her bed and then drape herself on top of her? The _nerve_. The _audacity_. She had made it clear to Yuzu that she couldn't so much as touch her things. Why would the blonde assume it was all right to touch _her_?!

But there was the temperature that was steadily rising in her body, heat blooming in all the places where Yuzu's body was in contact with hers. She turned off the light so that she could escape the image of Yuzu's lithe, nearly naked, tempting, sinful body. But now she was _feeling_ that accursed body draped all over her instead of _seeing_ it.

Mei concentrated on ignoring how utterly tantalizing Yuzu's bare skin felt against hers. The blonde shifted a bit on top of her, causing their skin to slide against each other, and Mei barely suppressed a shiver from the skin to skin contact.

"I'm not going to respond to that," Mei retorted in a cold voice. But not quite cold enough. She only managed to sound slightly irritated, instead of the _bitchy_ that she was shooting for. Her voice was too breathy, like she didn't trust herself to speak, like she was trying to hedge the response, like she was asking for something else entirely.

"Aww, you don't wanna play Trick or Treat?" Mei felt Yuzu's index finger on the side of her face, tracing a line from her cheek to her jaw. She swallowed against a dry throat. _Concentrate. She just wants to get a rise out of you._

"I guess I'll have to choose for you then." Yuzu's fingers were now on her chin, a thumb grazing the bottom of her lower lip, before sliding down to caress her neck and collarbone. Those fingers left a trail of heat that prickled across her skin.

Mei pushed her hands against Yuzu's shoulders with all the force of a crippled kitten. "Listen, I-"

"You're going to get a _treat_, even though you kind of don't deserve it."

Yuzu's head dipped down and Mei felt soft lips on her neck, and whatever rebuttal she was formulating immediately flew from her mind. Her stomach dropped from the rush of that initial contact.

Up until this point Mei could pretend, could ignore, could deny, deny, _deny_. It was still possible to cover up this horrible, all-consuming attraction to Yuzu by acting like a bitch towards her.

But the charade couldn't hold up now; now that she was letting Yuzu very sensually kiss her damn neck. And letting the blonde's hands wander down her body, feeling up the sides of her torso through her tank top.

Desire was coiling in her stomach, and her fingers curled against Yuzu's shoulders. She closed her eyes tightly, mustering the mental fortitude to put a stop to this. But with each sucking kiss that was laid on her neck and every second that passed with Yuzu exploring her body, it was getting harder and harder. She felt her control slipping away, even as she vainly tried to hold onto it.

"You feel so good, just like I knew you would." The murmured confession from Yuzu was so disarming that Mei's next inhale came as a hitched gasp.

_Oh this is bad. Very bad. _Mei felt like she was being carried away out to sea, and the shore where she anchored her carefully controlled emotions was slowly fading out of sight. _Must stop. Think of tomorrow._

A whimper escaped from her throat when Yuzu's hands slipped under her tank top and cupped her bare breasts, sending a rush of arousal to settle wetly between her legs.

Mei had a moment to feel embarrassed about the needy sound and then worried that she might make more, before Yuzu claimed her mouth in a heated kiss.

The kiss started out with lips crushing against each other, until Mei sucked Yuzu's lower lip into her mouth. Sensing the shift, the blonde deftly parted Mei's lips with her tongue and slipped inside. Mei welcomed her sorority sister's tongue in her mouth with a hunger that surprised them both. Their tongues met, slipped and stroked against each other, eager for to taste each other's flavor again.

As Yuzu dominated their kiss, Mei had a dim awareness that their roles were reversed from that time in the bathroom. She was the one who initiated the kiss, who pushed the boundary, who crossed the line.

If she had realized back then that she was playing with fire, would she have tried even harder to resist her impulse to kiss Yuzu? But she _had _tried. She had tried so very hard. She should probably try even harder now.

Yuzu brushed her thumbs against Mei's nipples, and the brunette couldn't contain her hungry moan, or the shiver that shook her spine, or the way her hips arched off the mattress, seeking out more contact with Yuzu. She needed more of the blonde's weight on her, because she felt like she was going to fly out of her own skin.

Her head was spinning, she was moaning into Yuzu's mouth as the blonde dragged her thumb back and forth across her nipples until they hardened. With each brush of tongue and each stroke on the peak of her breasts, there was an answering throb between her legs, the tiny muscle pulsing in sympathetic response.

The blonde broke their liplock, raised herself a few inches, and gripped the bunched up fabric of Mei's tanktop with one hand. "Hey, let's take this off," Yuzu coaxed invitingly, as if she knew that she needed to sell the other woman on the idea.

A little dazed, it took Mei a second to gather her wits enough to respond with an indignant scoff. "What? Are you serious? How dare you! I can't believe—"

"C'mon, just the shirt," the blonde cooed down at her, teasing one of her nipples with a circling fingertip.

A protest bubbled up from her chest but only a weak sound of disapproval escaped her mouth as she raised her arms above her head to allow her roommate to tug the tanktop off of her. The garment was summarily tossed to an unimportant corner of their room.

The cool air nipping at her bare torso made the raven-haired woman feel exposed. Refusing to be the only one in this room who was topless, she reached behind Yuzu and unhooked her bra strap with a deft snap of her fingers. _Quid pro quo._

"Mei, it's almost like you've had a lot of practice removing other girls' bras," Yuzu teased as she let the woman beneath her pull the undergarment away.

"You've got a real smart mouth," Mei snapped. She didn't want to converse with the object of her sexual frustration, the one who had been driving her insane _for months_. She wanted her to _shut up_. She hissed, "Why don't you put it to good use?"

She slipped her fingers into golden hair and tugged the blonde's head down, guiding her to where she needed it. Her nipples were aching and needy, and it was Yuzu's fault they got that way. When Yuzu's soft lips closed around a sensitive nub, a mewl tore its way from her throat.

The sensation of Yuzu tongue licking her hardened nipple with languid, teasing strokes was one of the most erotic acts she had ever experienced, and she couldn't help the reflexive jerk of her hips or the way her fingers tightened in Yuzu's hair, knowing that she was pulling enough to make it slightly hurt. She heard Yuzu hum quietly in approval when she gave a hard tug on her blond locks.

Mei, ever the academic, was cataloguing her own body's responses, and she knew she was racing through the female stages of arousal. Hell, she probably skipped several steps, and she was now just horribly _turned on_, beyond belief.

She was nearing the point of no return, approaching the curve in the road where pumping the brakes would still be possible. Because just beyond the bend was a hundred foot drop to a yawning chasm where she failed to resist her deepest, darkest desire.

"Yuzu." She shredded the name with a hitched breath. She was going to tell her that they needed to stop. Even for just a bit, just to gather their wits and figure out what the fuck they were doing. But she lacked the brainpower to form the words. Maybe because it was her hands that now had a mind of their own, hungrily roaming Yuzu's body.

Yuzu felt Mei's hands slide down to her ass, softly tracing the tiny lace triangle of her thong. She felt Mei slowly cup her cheeks, almost shyly at first, and then squeeze. Yuzu released the nipple that was in her mouth and arched her back slightly.

Mei took this opportunity to move her hands from Yuzu's behind to her chest. A happy sigh passed her lips when she cupped the shapely mounds that she had been taunting her for so long. Giving them a gentle squeeze, relishing their delightful heft, the brunette admitted to herself that they felt so much better than she could have ever imagined.

Still cupping Yuzu's breasts in her hands, she leaned up and started covering her roommate's chest with tender kisses. The woman on top of her was clearly pleased at the attention she was showering on her chest, if her small moans were any indication.

Hearing Yuzu moan raised a tingle in her spine, and Mei found herself wanting to coax more sounds of pleasure from the woman straddling her. Going by pure instinct and her own wants, she trailed her lips towards Yuzu's neck before sinking her teeth into the soft flesh.

Mei was rewarded by a long, drawn out groan. She quickly saved this bit of information in her mind under a brand new folder called _Things That Yuzu Likes In Bed._ She tangled her fingers in Yuzu's hair and angled her head to the side so she could access the whole expanse of the blonde's neck.

She was licking the bite mark she made on Yuzu's skin when a knee found its way between her legs. A lightning bolt of pleasure crackled through her, and she whimpered against the crook of Yuzu's neck. The thigh that was now slotted between hers was bringing attention to a part of her body that was previously neglected since all this started: her needy, aching core.

Yuzu fused their lips in a passionate kiss as she very slowly but quite firmly moved her thigh up and down between Mei's legs. The friction she felt from the thigh dragging against her heated core was like lighting a match to tinder.

Tilting her head back to disengage from the kiss that was making her head swim, Mei panted for breath. "Yuzu," she rasped. It sounded too much like a plea. She tried again, this time attempting a more authoritative tone. "Yuzu, hang on."

The blonde stilled her movements. "What is it?"

_Oh nothing major, just the fact that you're grinding on me while I'm topless. No biggie_.

"What are we doing?"

"We're having sex, Mei."

"But we hate each other."

There was enough light in the room for Mei to catch the odd expression that crossed Yuzu's face before it was quickly replaced by a cocky smile. She rolled her eyes and quipped, "Hate sex is great sex. Prepare yourself for greatness."

"Yuzu, I know that you're drunk right now and I got carried away, but you and I are complete opposites and we've been at each other's throats since day one, and you have to realize that this highly is inappropriate, and I haaaa…"

Pulling Mei's panties and pajamas down her legs, Yuzu responded conversationally, "Oh don't stop, keep telling me how much you hate me, babe." She yanked the bottoms off the lying woman and tossed them over her shoulder.

Mei grunted in protest, weak even to her own ears. She couldn't just _let_ Yuzu undress her completely. She still hadn't properly berated the blonde for her audacity, for coming over here and doing these things to her. For leading them both into this madness. Now was the time to kick the blonde out of her bed.

"I really hate you," Mei whined desperately.

But when Yuzu reached down and slipped a hand between her legs, she found Mei so very wet, found her smeared all over the inside of her thighs.

Mei screwed her eyes shut at the touch of Yuzu's hand on her wetness. Her protests, her lies, her general bitchy attitude towards Yuzu could no longer stand up to the evidence between her legs.

"Why, hello there," Yuzu purred, clearly pleased at what she found. Her hand slipped higher, until her index finger was resting against the apex of Mei's thighs. "This is a very nice surprise."

Mei's eyes flew open. She might be embarrassed at her state of affairs down there, but she was in no mood to be fucking teased. She had endured months of being tortured day in and day out as Yuzu's roommate, and she reached her limit.

Needy, aching, desperate, and utterly done wasting time, She wrapped her hand around the back of Yuzu's neck and yanked. "Shut up and fuck me already, Yuzu."

"So impatient." Mercifully Yuzu said nothing more and simply obliged.

Yuzu dipped two fingertips in her soaked folds and dragged them up and down slowly, lightly, teasing. As if she just wanted to get her fingertips wet.

Mei wondered if the blonde was enjoying this, teasing her, making her practically writhe from the latent ache of it all.

The fingers slipped a little higher, glancing her swollen clit, and she _keened. _Grabbing Yuzu's forearm, Mei whined, "Inside. Please, just get inside me."

If it wasn't so dark, Mei would have seen the shit-eating grin that formed on Yuzu's face.

"Well, okay, just because you said _please_. " Yuzu angled her arm and wrist for a better range of motion to give Mei the ride of her life. She had fantasized about this particular scenario more times than was healthy, picturing them in different positions, taking into account their height differences, their limbs, etc. She was prepared.

"Had I known there was a way to get you to be this nice…"

Mei groaned in frustration. "Yuzu, I swear, if you don't stop running your mouth and get inside me, I'm just going to take care of myself!" She fought the urge to start pulling at blond hair. The itch biting her insides was now unbearable.

Two fingers entered her and her head fell back against her pillow, reeling from the delicious sensation of being filled. It felt so good, to no longer feel desperately achy and empty. And of course there was the fact that it was Yuzu doing the _filling. _

The brunette shoved aside the insanity of the fact that she was sleeping with Yuzu. That was now a problem for future Mei. All that mattered at the present moment was the brilliant, molten core of pleasure that Yuzu was stirring inside her with those very talented fingers.

Yuzu was hitting all the right spots in her silken tunnel with each plunge into her sopping core. It was like the blonde was given a cheat sheet to her box and she was just cheerfully finding and then mashing all of her buttons. And each button was a live wire to the pleasure center of her brain, and the organ was dispatching neurons overloaded with pleasure.

Distantly, she realized that the wanton moans and keening sounds filling their room was from _her_. But she simply couldn't help it, not when Yuzu was fucking her harder with each progressive stroke. She had started the pace nice and easy, but now her hips were being ground into the mattress with each slam.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Mei chanted with each urgent rock of her hips against Yuzu's hand. She was determined to match Yuzu stroke for stroke; her father did not raise a quitter. On the outstroke and she pulled back, on the instroke she rocked her hips forward to hilt those fingers as deep as they could go.

Hearing the prim and proper Mei Aihara curse helplessly while bouncing on her fingers was the sexiest moment in Yuzu's life. There was probably going to be hell to pay tomorrow, but she wouldn't trade this for anything.

"Oh yes, just like that baby. Thaaaat's a good girl. Bounce for me. You look so hot right now, oh my god…"

Mei could make out half of Yuzu's babbling, but she couldn't really process the words, but she found that she liked hearing Yuzu's voice, talking to her, because it felt like a tether to this bed they were in, in this room they shared.

"Harder," she moaned to her blond lover. _Wow._ She said that. She _actually_ said that. Where did that come from? "Faster."

"Yes," Yuzu gasped.

So agreeable.

The new rhythm between her legs pretty much guaranteed that she wouldn't last long. There was a drumline beating in her ears, the heat and friction in her core starting to crescendo.

"Hhhnngh, oh shit!" Her spine whiplashed when Yuzu laid her other hand on her pelvis, then pressed her clit with her thumb. White hot pleasure flared in every cell of her body.

Mei bit back a scream as Yuzu's thumb rubbed tight little circles on her clit.

Yuzu was still talking, crooning praises and encouragement in her ear. She caught snatches of _doing so good, that's it,_ and _baby_. She mostly picked up the arousal that laced the woman's voice, and it only spurred her impending climax.

A sob rose in Mei's throat as Yuzu curled her fingers inside her.

Yuzu rubbed that magical patch of ridged flesh with her fingertips while the thumb of her other hand continued to stroke off Mei's clit. She was knocking on heaven's door while mashing the buzzer insistently.

As Mei's orgasm loomed, all the muscles in her core constricted involuntarily, squeezing around Yuzu's long fingers buried inside her. The sensation of the blonde's fingers in the tight clench of her body felt so delicious, so overwhelmingly good.

Mei's orgasm unfurled in her belly like a whip, then cracking across her muscles like lightning. Her eyes rolled back and her spine arched, suspended in perfection for a timeless moment.

With a keening moan, she tumbled over the edge, pleasure searing through her bones, release singing in her veins.

* * *

The loud ding of a notification from an iPhone broke the silence in the room. Yuzu slowly opened her eyes and saw her own bed bathed in the early morning light.

_Is that my phone?_

_Nah, I haven't set any alarms for today. Must be Mei's._

This train of thought slowly led her to the growing awareness of where she was.

First, she wasn't in her bed. She was in Mei's. And Mei was curled against her back, arm across her chest, holding her tight. She could feel the brunette's breath on the back of her neck.

Oh, and Mei was naked. Absolutely naked. She, on the other hand, only had her panties and the long knee-high socks on.

Yuzu bit her lip. _Okay, don't panic. If you panic, she'll panic. She will kill your shit. Be cool. Be cool._

She tried to be still as possible, but after several minutes she couldn't pretend to be a statue anymore. Shifting as minutely as possible, she adjusted her shoulder to alleviate the pressure on her neck.

"Mmmm." Mei stirred gently behind her. Her roommate pulled her even closer against her chest, then bending her knees to tuck in Yuzu's bottom against the curve of her nip. There were snug as a bug.

The smile that was slowly forming on her face froze when Mei's hand moved to cup her boob. Her eyes widened when the brunette gave it a firm squeeze.

When Mei nuzzled her shoulder while gently rolling her nipple with her fingers, she mewled low in her throat.

She felt Mei go rigid. They lay frozen like that for several breathless moments: a naked Mei spooning her, hand curled around her breast.

Slowly, Mei retracted her hand from her chest, as if she was caught red-handed with a murder weapon.

Mei rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling. "Um, so that—"

The iPhone dinged again. This time it was a text message notification.

"Wait, what time is it?" Mei cried as she quickly sat upright, yanking the blanket to cover her chest.

Yuzu yelped and scrambled to grab the nearest pillow to cover her bare torso.

"Uh, I'm not sure, but I heard your phone ding like five minutes ago."

"That was the reminder for the meeting that was about to start!" Mei squealed, leaping out of bed, yanking the whole blanket from the bed and wrapping it around her. "And it's at the Union Building!"

Yuzu had never seen a person throw on clothes so fast before. What made it even more impressive was the fact that Mei got dressed in record time while also covering up her body with the sheet.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm sure the council won't mind if you're late for, um, 10… or 13 minutes."

"Yuzu, I'm leading this meeting!" Mei hissed as she pulled on her flats. Grabbing her keys and bag, she ran to the door. Before she closed the door behind her, she glanced at Yuzu half-naked in _her_ bed, blond hair tousled in that alluring just-fucked look. An expression equal parts horror and longing crossed her face, before she bolted down the hallway.

* * *

"Well, well, well," Matsuri drawled as soon as she spotted Yuzu threading her way through the brunch crowd at Denny's. She waited until the blonde sank into a chair at their table to say, "Look at what the cat dragged in."

"Hey guys. Thanks for waiting." Yuzu removed her dark sunglasses and immediately opened her menu. Pointing to the mug of coffee beside her silverware, she asked, "This mine?"

"Yep." Harumi nodded.

"Thanks, babe. You know me so well." She looked into the cup and sighed. "I'm not caffeinated enough for this morning." The blonde smiled gratefully at Harumi before taking a sip.

"So you dipped out pretty early last night," Matsuri said offhandedly, carefully setting up the bait.

"Uhuh," Yuzu agreed, sounding way too casual. Her eyes also shifted towards the table beside them, a family who was digging into a huge stack of banana-Nutella pancakes.

"I thought for sure you would stay out longer and hit at least half the parties on Frat Row, considering how much time you spent on your costume." Matsuri raised a brow at the blonde,  
"_Yang_."

The blonde shrugged. "Nah, it wasn't that special. The only thing I had to make was Ember Celica, the rest of the costume were clothes I owned."

"Hmmm, I guess. Well I for one, couldn't keep my eyes off this kitty cat." Matsuri smirked and reached towards the back of Harumi's head and dragged her nails down her scalp. "Did you know that her costume came with matching lingerie?" She shivered dramatically. "It was like, getting a surprise present when you were already unwrapping a present. That's going into the spank bank, let me tell you."

Harumi grabbed Matsuri's wrist and twisted it off her hair, earning a high-pitched squeak.

"God, what the fuck is wrong with you? If we weren't in a public place I would literally murder you right now," Harumi growled.

Yuzu calmly drank her coffee while Harumi and Matsuri tore at each other's throats, deep in her own thoughts.

"So why'd you leave so early last night?" The two had finished fighting, and Matsuri's attention returned to Yuzu.

Yuzu's chuckled nervously. "Oh, I just got drunk way too early. I was too tired…so I just decided to call it a night."

"Right." Matsuri grinned. The blonde bit the lure; time to bring her in. "So you just went home and passed out, huh?"

"Yeah," Yuzu nodded. "Went out like a light." A pensive expression crossed her face, furrowing her brow.

"You know, I bumped into your roommate this morning as she was running out to her car. She looked like she was in a real hurry to get somewhere." Matsuri said, gently reeling in the poor blonde, lest she jerk and snap the line.

"Uh, yeah. I guess she … overslept or something." Confusion pinched Yuzu's features as she was just now starting to realize where this was going.

A knowing smile spread across Matsuri's face. She glanced at Harumi then back at Yuzu. "Mei looked like she had just spent the night getting _railed_."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Thoughts?

I'm not sure when I'll be posting the next chapter to this, I have to decide which one of my WIPs is getting updated next. I have stories I haven't updated since last year. But! The spring semester has thankfully ended, so now theoretically I have more time to write fic.

Thank you to everyone who left a review! I love getting them and they make my day : )


	5. Love me do!

When Yuzu walked into their room later that afternoon, Mei was folding her laundry.

Yuzu's stomach dropped at the sight of the raven-haired girl.

Her heart felt like it was ricocheting in her chest cavity, but Yuzu calmly walked to her side of the room. After hanging her purse on the back of her desk chair, she sat down on her bed. She started scrolling through her Instagram while sipping on the coffee that she got in a to-go cup at Denny's.

_Make up tutorials._

_Doug the Pug._

_K-pop boybands._

_Matsuri with a smirk, staring straight at the camera, with someone's hand cupping the side of her face tenderly. _Yuzu recognized that manicure with the turquoise accent nail. That was Harumi's hand.

_Crunchy ASMRs._

_More make up tutorials._

But Yuzu wasn't really seeing the stream of images and videos on her screen. Her eyes traveled up to the top of her phone to peek at her roommate who was currently putting away a stack of pastel cardigans into an open drawer.

Mei looked as cool as a cucumber. Like a placid lake. Totally unperturbed, like she didn't just spend last night getting rawed.

Yuzu screwed her eyes shut and made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. That was Matsuri's words in her head, egging her on.

The sorority president ignored her random outburst, still looking serene as she KonMaried her sock drawer.

Yuzu was tired of acting cool. She took a deep breath. "Mei? Are we gonna talk about last night, or….?"

Mei's hand paused in midair for a second. She placed the neatly folded pair of socks in the drawer before pushing it closed. She turned around to face Yuzu, defiantly lifting her chin, but couldn't quite meet Yuzu's emerald eyes.

Mei's tone matched her miffed expression when she replied, "Yeah sure, we can talk about it. You came home drunk. Completely disregarding what I've said to you about not coming into this room unless you're completely sober. You went against our roommate contract that we set up in the beginning of the semester."

"Okay?" Yuzu's eyes widened. "But what about the part where," she paused, her face pinching into a frown. "We had sex? Are you seriously going to ignore that?!"

"Keep your voice down," Mei hissed, her eyes darting to the closed door of their room. "No, I'm not ignoring that fact that we….did stuff. What the heck do you want me to say, Yuzu? You came home white-girl wasted, you stripped naked, and then crawled into my bed!"

"I wasn't white-girl wasted!" Yuzu protested. "Yeah, I was a bit drunk. That was….yeah. I'm sorry! But…I just thought you wanted a cuddle."

Mei rolled her eyes. She started to turn away, like she was done with the conversation.

"But what happened after, that wasn't all me. It seemed to me you were a pretty willing participant," Yuzu insisted.

She hated having to press Mei like this, but it was going to drive her insane if they didn't talk about it. She wasn't going to spend the rest of the school year as Mei's roommate and pretend that last night never happened. No _sir_. Mei might be fine living in denial, but she wasn't a fan of the neighborhood.

Yuzu stood up and walked towards her roommate, who regarded her warily. She felt like she was cornering a frightened animal. Although after last night, she knew very well that this little kitty cat had _claws. _

An image of Mei sinking her fingernails into her shoulder as she tightened around her fingers surfaced to the front of her mind. Along with the sweet moans and she was able to coax from her roommate's mouth.

Yuzu almost facepalmed herself._ Not the time to be fantasizing, brain! Focus!_

"I'm not saying it wasn't consensual," Mei retorted. "But what happened last night was the combination of your inebriation and my own sleep-deprived state, which led to some inappropriate behavior that we wouldn't have engaged in, had we been in our normal state of mind."

Yuzu crossed her arms and leveled Mei with an _are you fucking kidding me_ stare. "Mei. We went several rounds."

A tic broke in Mei's eye. "I guess you were really drunk and I was really loopy."

"You came like three times."

"Yuzu!" she snapped angrily, but the red flush that appeared on her neck and cheeks weakened the effect the brunette was shooting for. "Drop it. We had drunk sex. It was a huge mistake, it's been acknowledged, but I just want to move past this. "

Yuzu's heart clenched at the words. She had braced herself for this reaction from Mei, but hearing the girl state it out loud – _stung. _Still, she managed to appear neutral as she stared at Mei, daring her to go on and explain herself.

Mei stared back, a haughty expression on her face. Internally, she was a fucking mess. Her insides felt like jelly, and her pulse was rabbit-kicking in her throat.

Because Yuzu had a disbelieving expression on her face, like the blonde knew she was full of shit. Mei couldn't handle Yuzu's doubt, her skepticism. Panic was rising in her stomach from being confronted about last night. Her emotions were thrashing wildly in her chest, and she needed to shut down this conversation immediately. She reached for the one thing that she knew would end it.

"I'm not gay, Yuzu," she asserted, with a little too much force than was necessary. "I'm not into girls."

Yuzu blinked, her expression morphing into a look of surprise. "Right. Not gay," she parroted. "Totally straight."

"On top of that, we're sorority sisters. Sleeping with each other isn't exactly one of the recommended activities to strengthen the bonds of sisterhood as outlined in the Chi Theta Sigma handbook."

"I'm aware of that."

"That's why it won't happen again." Mei swallowed around the bitter lump in her throat. It tasted like an extra-large helping of gay panic.

"Of course it's not gonna happen again. Last night," Yuzu snatched her coffee and pocketed her phone, "Was a big mistake." She walked out of their room and slammed the door .

* * *

Yuzu was an anger ball pacing the living room of the Chi Theta Sigma house.

She stopped pacing and looked at the photo gallery of all the sorority sisters on the wall. At the very top row of framed headshots, Mei Aihara's smiling face looked down on her.

Mei's raven hair framed her porcelain face like midnight waves lapping against a white sand beach. A demure smile graced her lips and there was a confident glint in those amethyst eyes. A string of pearls adorned the elegant column of her neck.

So effortlessly gorgeous. So perfect. It was fitting that her photo was highest up on the wall. Mei would always be out of her reach. That's basically what Mei was saying in between the lines, right? She was out of her league.

Yuzu huffed, tearing her eyes away from the sorority president's picture.

_Man, I'm done with this. _

Yuzu straightened her spine. _I've totally been pussy whipped over Mei since the day I met her. But no more. She can't have sex with me and then turn around and treat me like dirt._

It was in tatters over the last few months, but Yuzu still had _some_ pride. She wasn't going to let her roommate walk all over her.

It was a tall order considering she was knuckle-deep inside Mei less than twelve hours ago, but Yuzu was on a mission to get over her hopeless infatuation with her roommate, stat.

Maybe it meant sitting in a dark corner for hours listening to Lana del Rey.

Maybe it meant eating several pints of Ben n' Jerry's while watching _How to be Single, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_, and _Eat Pray Love_.

Maybe it meant hitting the Frat Row party circuit extra hard for the next few weekends.

Maybe it meant having a marathon video game session with Matsuri and eating cheap pizza.

No matter which coping mechanisms she used, she was going to come out of this all right.

She was going to rise from the ashes of this Mei Aihara debacle like a beautiful, powerful, blond phoenix.

Yuzu stared at her own picture in the collage of photos. Her open, cheerful face stared back at her.

_I'll be the perfect sorority sister to Mei. The one she wants me to be. But the disaster lesbian who's pining and longing for a straight girl – that girl is gone._

* * *

Since Yuzu wasn't in the habit of severe emotional repression like her roommate, she fully acknowledged that this whole thing with Mei was a big gay heartbreak. She threw herself into the task of getting over a rejection, blasting through the cliché activities for getting over someone like the heroine in a romcom.

Yuzu was doing okay, all things considered.

Mei, on the other hand, was experiencing the opposite.

"I think we should draw more cookies and hearts here," Paige pointed to both sides of the poster they were working on. "And definitely red glitter on the hearts."

Mei nodded in agreement at her sorority sister. She thought the design of the poster for their cookie delivery service was a little cheesy, but Paige was the Marketing Chair, so whatever.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, the two girls continued working on a corner table in the study room.

"Hey the poster looks great!" Yuzu's voice rang out behind her, and Mei twitched in surprise.

Yuzu leaned closer to peer at the poster, and Mei was incredibly aware of how close the blonde's face was to her _neck._

_Why is she so close! _

Her skin tingled.

"I really like the drawing of the Chi delivery girl holding a huge cookie," Yuzu complimented, turning her head to smile sweetly at Paige.

Mei felt heat creep up on her neck, in addition to the tingles. Her gaze slid down to Yuzu's lips. Yuzu's full, pouty lips.

Those lips had kissed Mei's neck, bitten her until she moaned like she was in a porno.

An ache between her legs made itself known at the memory of Yuzu's teeth grazing her throat.

"Uh…what?" Yuzu asked.

The blonde's face confused face came back into focus.

"Do I have something on my face or something?"

"No." Mei grabbed a black marker and started drawing on a corner of the poster. "I'm just drawing another delivery girl holding a giant cookie. Good idea."

"Great job, ladies. We're gonna do really well with the cookie sale." Yuzu walked out of the study room with a wave.

* * *

"Listen," Matsuri said in the tone that signaled she meant to drop some knowledge. "This is what you have to do to break through Mei's sexual repression and make her _want_ you."

"Don't listen to her." Harumi rolled her eyes and pulled Matsuri by the shoulders towards her, so that the pink-haired girl wasn't leaning towards Yuzu being overbearing. "She thinks she's some sort of lesbian Casanova."

Yuzu giggled from Harumi's bed. "Oh I know."

Matsuri huffed. The two were sitting in a papasan chair in the middle of Harumi's room. "Hey, last time I checked, I'm the one who taps the ass of a super-hot sorority girl on the regular," she said smugly.

Yuzu nodded. "You've got a point. All right, give me your wisdom. How do I get Mei to want me?"

Pinching Matsuri's side, Harumi argued, "I only gave in to you because you wore me down. I didn't have the strength to fight you off anymore."

"You have to act like you don't care." Matsuri said with conviction. She was able to wriggle free of her girlfriend's grip and leaned towards Yuzu, elbows on her knees. "Like you don't care that you guys banged that one time."

"I mean, I've been trying to be cool," Yuzu said with a small shrug.

"Good. Just keep acting like you're totally good even if it never happens again. That kind of stuff drives girls crazy. Then she won't be able to stop thinking about it."

Yuzu took a deep breath and fiddled with the pillow on her lap. "Okay. I don't know why I'm taking your advice. I must be really desperate."

"Pfffft." Matsuri's pulled a face and pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Bruh, have you seen my ride?" A smirk curled over her lip. "If anyone can teach you about pulling a girl way out of your league, it's me."

Harumi poked Matsuri in the ribs. "Don't tell her Mei's out of her league," she chided. "And don't call me your _ride._ You're such a little shit. And you didn't pull me from anywhere."

Matsuri laid back on Harumi's chest and turned her head to peer up at Harumi's hazel eyes, an impish grin on her lips. "Bagged you like some groceries."

* * *

"I don't care if it makes me a basic bitch, but all I'm getting from Starbucks are pumpkin spice lattes from now until December." Yuzu took a sip of her coffee and theatrically closed her eyes to prove her love of the seasonal drink to Mei. "Mmmmm. It's the taste of fall."

Despite herself, a smile quirked Mei's mouth. "It's the taste of a chemical shitstorm, Yuzu. There's no actual pumpkin in that coffee."

Yuzu tsked. "Well, this fall-flavored chemical shitstorm is _delicious._" She shrugged and walked towards her closet. "I probably love it so much because pumpkin spice lattes aren't really a thing back home. It's hard to get into fall-themed stuff when it's like sunny and hot every day in SoCal, you know?"

From her knees on the floor in front of the closet, Yuzu pulled out a fuzzy burgundy sweater and held it up to show Mei. "Like wearing oversized sweaters like these! They're so cozy and when you're outside in the autumn chill it's like being wrapped in a warm hug!" Yuzu smiled brightly and rubbed her face on the fuzzy material.

Mei groaned inwardly. _Dammit. Why is she so freakin cute?_

"Sweater weather is a pretty nice feature of living in the Midwest," Mei conceded softly as she watched her roommate, idly thinking about how nice it would feel to nuzzle her face into that sweater as Yuzu cuddled her, on a couch, as they sipped warm beverages, a green tea for her, and Yuzu could have that atrocious pumpkin spice latte monstrosity…

When the blonde crossed her arms over her torso and gripped the bottom hem of her shirt, Mei spun away in her swivel chair.

She kept her back turned as Yuzu changed into the sweater, her spine rigid, muscles tense.

This was just one other thing that was driving her crazy. Yuzu changing her clothes in their room. Yuzu in various stages of undress, like in the mornings when the blonde would roll out of bed or get ready for class.

She would always avert her eyes the second she saw Yuzu without her shirt on, walking out of their en suite bathroom after a shower in just her jeans and bra. Looking at her felt _wrong_, it felt _dangerous_. It would always make her stomach burn.

But inevitably her eyes would trail back to Yuzu's form, like a magnetic pull.

Mei would only stealthily glance at her half-dressed roommate when the girl was toweling her hair dry or was looking at something else. She would always time her secret stares just right.

Except for this time. Her gaze lingered on Yuzu who was pulling on the sweater a little too long, a little too intensely.

Yuzu's head popped through the neck hole of the sweater and their eyes met.

Mei looked away hastily, and she prayed the heat she felt on her face wasn't manifesting into an actual blush.

Yuzu rose from the floor and shouldered her purse. "All right, catch you later."

Mei glanced back at Yuzu, who smirked at her.

"Have fun at the haunted hayride." Mei cleared her throat and started shuffling the papers on her desk. "They have really good apple cider and donuts there too."

"You sure you don't wanna come?."

"Maybe next time. Thanks for inviting me."

Yuzu left their room with a wave.

After a couple of minutes, Mei went to the window and watched Yuzu and a bunch of people pile into a black Escalade in front of their house. By the time they got to Happy Meadow Farms, it would be dark and cold. Mei felt a pang in her chest when she pictured Yuzu cuddling up next to someone as they rode in the hayride under the autumn night sky.

Sighing, Mei walked back to her desk.

* * *

It was a Tuesday afternoon and the girls of Chi Theta Sigma were sitting in the grass at the Oval, watching the marching band practice for the big game. Their football team had made it to a bowl game, and the whole campus was abuzz with excitement for this Saturday.

"Which bowl game are we playing again?" Himeko asked as she shifted her crossed legs. She didn't like watching football, nor did she understand the rules. But she went to the associated activities anyway because she felt like she needed to be more social.

"Um, I think we're playing in the Citrus Bowl?" Harumi said tentatively. She didn't follow college sports much either. She went back to playing with Matsuri's hair, whose head was in her lap.

"Isn't there an Orange Bowl too?"

"Yeah," replied Yuzu, who actually knew football. "They're different. The Citrus Bowl is in Orlando and the Orange Bowl is in Miami."

With an air of practiced disinterest, Mei watched Yuzu explain NCAA conferences to the girls sitting in their picnic blanket, clearly knowledgeable about the subject. She probably learned that stuff from her time in the cheer team when she was at UCLA. It always caught her off guard when she discovered a previously unknown piece of information about Yuzu. A little thrill always accompanied these discoveries, and she would file away the information, to be turned over in her mind later. She was studiously creating a profile of her roommate in her mind, and she was putting it together piece by piece.

The picture that was emerging was something of an enigma. Behind her outward appearance of beautiful, fashion-obsessed California Barbie was an incredibly kind, warm-hearted, and _good _person. Yuzu was the friendliest and most helpful person in their whole sorority, someone who _actually_ embodied their definition of sisterhood. She acted like an airhead, but she was in fact very astute. Yuzu was also one of those very rare people who felt at ease in her own skin, thus exuding this confidence that was _captivating_. And she also smelled really good and her skin was so soft, and the sounds she made…

"Yo, Mei. Look who's coming over here. Mr. Loverboy." Matsuri's derisive tone broke through her reverie.

Mei glanced up and saw Amamiya across the green. With his suit jacket slung over his shoulder, dark sunglasses, and Italian leather shoes, he looked like he was a male model on a catwalk instead of the youngest Associate Professor at the Business College in between his classes.

Matsuri, that insufferable brat, continued her taunting.

"Are you still going to play hard to get with Mr. Amamiya, Mei? What excuse are you going to give him this time? Or are you finally gonna go out with him?"

The sound of Matsuri's voice felt like her nerves were being raked over broken glass. To make matters worse, Amamiya was coming closer, and she hadn't yet come up with a diplomatic way to make him understand that she would rather swim through hot garbage than date him.

Someone poked her gently on her side. Looking around, Mei saw that it was Yuzu.

"He looks super fine," Yuzu said with a wide grin, a playful glint in her emerald eyes. "He was the president of Sigma Pi when he was in undergrad, right?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, looking away. She didn't want to talk to Yuzu about him. _Especially_ not about him. Nervous energy started to itch her muscles, so she rose from her sitting position on the blanket.

"I'd tap that." Yuzu looked up at her and winked.

Mei's stomach clenched uncomfortably. She whirled away from Yuzu before the lump fully formed in her throat.

* * *

Mei was woken up by the piercing sound of a ringing phone in the middle of the night. She peeled her eyes open to the pitch dark of her room.

Groaning, she turned over and stretched out her hand towards the nightstand. She started patting around for her phone, a whispered _shit _coming from her mouth when she heard something knock over to the floor. At least it wasn't the glass of water.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._ The sound felt like it was drilling into her skull, and she cursed whoever was calling at this hour.

Her coordination wasn't the best because her whole body was still heavy with sleep, but Mei's fingers finally closed around her phone. Bringing it to her ear, she mumbled a groggy "Hello."

"Heeeeey Mei."

The sound of Yuzu's voice sent a rush of adrenaline through her veins, and in an instant Mei was wide awake.

"Yuzu? What…why are you calling me? What time is it?"

There was a frustrated mewl from the other line. "Look, I need to talk to you about your rules."

Mei could tell that Yuzu had been drinking by the sound of her voice. But that in itself wasn't surprising. She knew that Yuzu was going to a party with a several of their sisters when they all left earlier. And it was a Saturday night, of course Yuzu would be drinking.

"What are you talking about? What rules?"

"Your rule that I can't come home until I'm not drunk no more!"

Mei's eyebrows furrowed. "Okay? What about it?"

"Well," Yuzu sighed, "I'm still kind of drunk right now, not like, super drunk, just a bit tipsy. Okay, a couple shots over tipsy. Anyway, yeah, still maybe sorta drunk….but I'm tired and I want to come home."

The sad, pitiful tone at the end of Yuzu's rambling tugged at Mei's heart. The brunette wasn't sure if Yuzu was just playing it up to get her to agree, but damn, it was effective. She felt her heart ache when she imagined Yuzu at a house party somewhere, uncomfortable and frustrated, and just wanted to come _home. _

_Home to me._

_Yuzu would rather be back in here in our room with me, rather than out in a drunken college party._

A warm, pleasant feeling spread in her chest at the thought. Oh, she could dream, couldn't she? In the privacy of her own mind, she can entertain the silliest fantasies.

"So whaddaya think? Can you cut me some slack just for tonight, pleeeeeease."

Mei tsked into the phone. She didn't want to sound like she was going easy on her little rule-breaker, so she said sternly, "All right, fine. But just for tonight. Just this once."

"You're the best, Mei."

"So when will you be back?"

"Ummmnot not sure yet. I'm still working on that part."

Mei frowned, apprehension tickling the back of her mind. "What do you mean you're still working on it?"

"Well," Yuzu drew out the word until it tapered off into a sigh. "I came here with Kayla, Sasha, and Blaire, but they left."

"What?" Mei sat herself up on one elbow. "Why did they leave without you?"

A blast of dance music drowned the first few seconds of Yuzu's reply. "—fighting again. And I think Kayla thought I wanted to stay here because I was talking to Benjie but I wasn't really, I was telling him to get the fuck off, he kept bugging me to shotgun this blu—"

"Who is this Benjie?" Mei snapped, cutting her off. The apprehension was now a prickly heat racing down her spine.

"Oh…. you know, Benjie. The one who won the ice cream eating contest?"

"So he's bothering you? And you're there alone?" Anxiety coiled in her gut, dark and heavy.

"I mean," Yuzu paused, and thumping bass burst through the phone again. "I'm not like in any danger…I can fight him off, I think. He's just a little pushy…he really wants to get me drunk or high or whatever."

Mei hated the worry that she could hear bleeding through Yuzu's voice, despite her reassurances. Something else was rising up in her, different emotions clawing in her chest cavity. Something like fear, something like jealousy, a lot like anger.

"But don't worry, I'm not falling for that shit. Anyway, I'm gonna try to find someone who I can catch a ride with. Might take a while cus this party is lit and—"

"Stay in the living room. Find some people who aren't drunk and sit with them." Mei swung her legs off the side of the bed and strode to her dresser, navigating the dark space from memory. "Give me fifteen minutes."

"Uh, what?"

"I'm coming to get you. Text me the address." Mei held the phone to her ear and with the other hand opened a drawer and pulled out what she could feel was a pair of pants.

"No, no, no." Yuzu's voice pitched higher with each word. "I didn't call you cuz I wanted you to come get me –"

"Yuzu. Just text me the address."

"—I just wanted to know if you—"

Mei ended the call and stuffed the phone in her back jean pocket.

* * *

Less than 5 minutes later, Mei was tearing down Cedar Avenue in her Audi. There weren't many cars on the road because of the late hour, but she still wasn't going as fast as she wanted to.

As she white-knuckled through the dark streets towards the south side of town, she had a moment to reflect on why she was speeding to a house party in the middle of the night.

The truth was that Mei couldn't bear the thought, the idea, the possibility, of Yuzu being in a threatening situation. A compromising situation.

_In a party full of drunk guys trying to drag her off to some dark corner, their hands on_…

The bottom of Mei's stomach dropped away at that train of thought, and she pressed down on the gas, pulling a smooth roar from the V8 engine.

By the time Mei arrived at the house, anxiety had gnawed through her stomach and was burning in her chest. She did 50 on a 35 all the way here. Glancing at the digital clock on the dash, it had been 14 minutes since she talked to Yuzu . _Surely nothing happened to her in that time._

She threw the car into park and hopped out, not caring in the slightest that she double parked behind a Jeep Wrangler in the driveway.

The house was a large, nondescript 2-story building with a symmetrical façade and double-hung windows with black shutters. Mei could see the bodies of partiers jam-packed through the row of windows on the ground floor. There were more people congregated on the lawn in front of the house, holding Solo cups. The night air thudded with the heavy bass of the party anthem being blasted from inside the house. She guessed that within an hour the cops would get called for a noise complaint.

Mei had one thought in mind, and that was to remove her sister from the premises. Adrenaline was coursing in her veins as she pushed through the throng. People called out her name as she strode towards the front door, but she ignored them all. She shoulder-checked a lanky ginger who smelled strongly of pot when he didn't move out of her way fast enough as she entered the house and into the living area.

Every piece of furniture in the living room looked like it was pulled out of a dumpster or picked up from the curb. Flopped over ratty couches were college kids in various stages of inebriation. Bottles, cans and plastic cups covered the surface of every coffee table randomly scattered throughout the room.

Mei spotted her roommate sitting on the arm of a light brown couch that was probably a cream color once upon a time. Yuzu didn't look blackout drunk; she was talking and laughing with a small group of people congregated around the couch. Sure enough, there was a boy hovering over Yuzu. Brown curly hair under a snapback, a tight cotton shirt that showed off how jacked he was, both hands in his pockets, watching Yuzu intently – this must be Benjie.

Relief at seeing Yuzu all right was overtaken by the rage caused by the asshole that was messing with her. Clenching her jaw so hard that her temples throbbed, she strode towards her roommate.

Yuzu looked up as she approached from across the room. "Mei!"

Everyone in the little group turned to look at her. Benjie narrowed his red-rimmed eyes.

"Let's go," Mei said without preamble, in a tone that sounded like an order rather than an invitation.

Yuzu's eyebrows raised slightly, but she made to grab her things on the coffee table.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Benjie raised his hand to hover a few inches from Yuzu's arm. "Where you goin, babe?"

The urge to shove the fucker was strong. Mei knew this wouldn't be very effective of course. The dude was built like a linebacker. _I bet smashing a beer bottle to his head would work though. _

"My ride's here. I'm going home, Benjie." Yuzu looked into her clutch to see if she had everything.

Benjie stepped into Yuzu's personal space and whined, "Aww, c'mon don't go yet. My buddies set up a fire pit outside and they're getting the wood ready, it'll be real cool. I'll take you home –"

Yuzu took a step back from the boy, but before he could surge forward, Mei's palm connected with Benjie's pec with a slap. Her outstretched arm was locked at the elbow, preventing the boy from taking another step.

"No. Yuzu's not going anywhere with you." Mei's voice was hard as steel. "She's leaving with me right now."

Benjie's face twisted into a frown. He slurred, "What, are you her mom or somethin'?"

"No, I am not her mom."

Benjie stepped back and crossed his arms. "Oh I'm sorry," he said mockingly. "Is she your boo then?"

"She's my sister," Mei said loudly, making several heads turn. She grabbed the hand of said sister and led her away from the group.

* * *

_Well that was intense_.

Yuzu obediently followed Mei out of the house, allowing herself to be pulled by the hand.

She certainly didn't expect Mei to show up looking all mad and then strong-arm Benjie. Her roommate looked hella intimidating, but also in that intimidating in a hot _as fuck_ way. That look always sent a thrill down her spine.

It just wasn't fair, that even when mad, Mei managed to look stupidly hot. Yuzu was pretty sure her roommate had just rolled out of bed less than fifteen minutes before, but when she walked into that grimy living room, heads turned to look at stare at her. Long straight hair the color of midnight cascading down her back, wearing a black double rider leather jacket, that insanely beautiful face… Mei Aihara could walk into any room draw all eyes on her. She was just that stunning.

"Are you mad at me or something?" Yuzu directed the question to Mei's back. She expected Mei to let go of her hand once they exited the crowded house, but the brunette kept her grip. She felt silly admitting it, but it felt _nice_ to hold Mei's hand. If you ignore the fact that Mei was highly agitated. Her voice came out in a whine. "I told you I wasn't asking you to come out here and get me!"

Mei snapped behind her shoulder, "Why, so that Neanderthal could get you even drunker and you could go and sit by a stupid fire?"

"Why are you so pissed? What did I do?"

Mei stopped and whipped around to face her. "You know, it's really stupid to be out here drinking and partying with a bunch of people you don't know, full of guys who just want to get you drunk, without your sisters! That was incredibly dangerous. God, I can't believe—"

Yuzu yanked her hand from Mei's grip. She was tired of Mei talking to her like she had no sense. Like she was a child. She was a goddamn adult. And honestly? A lot of times Mei didn't act so mature herself, regardless of her regal bearing. Fuck that noise.

"Geez, get off my dick, Mei! I wasn't acting like a dummy. It's not like I was wasted, I was aware of my surroundings the whole time. I always get my own drinks and watch them all night. And yes, when the girls left I started working on leaving too. I called you to say I wanted to come home, remember?" Yuzu looked up at Mei with the strongest glare she could muster.

Mei moved forward purposefully, invading her personal space.

"So you're saying I had nothing to worry about?" Mei's voice was as sharp as the look in her eyes. Her face was so close to hers that they were practically nose to nose. Was Mei trying to intimidate her by…closeness? Was she playing a game of chicken? Because she wasn't going back down.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying," Yuzu confirmed. She tilted her face up, bringing their faces even closer. She couldn't help it, whenever Mei's body got close to hers, there was always this _pull._ It took conscious effort to resist it, and at the moment she didn't have it in her to try. "I'm a big girl. I can go to a party without my sorority sister having to rescue me."

"You sounded pretty worried when you called me," Mei murmured, her eyes flicking down to her lips. "That's why I came."

Yuzu tried, and failed, to stop herself from parting her lips under Mei's heavy gaze. "Oh, really," she breathed.

"Yes, really. I could hear it in your voice on the phone. You didn't want to be there anymore." Mei said in a cocky voice, as if she had one-upped Yuzu. She put hands on her hips, acting like she had just won the argument.

Yuzu rolled her eyes, knowing full well she was doing it to rile Mei up. The air between them felt charged, thrumming with something dangerous. The logical, non-drunk part of her brain knew it wasn't advisable, but Yuzu wanted to keep pushing Mei's buttons. She wanted to feed this heat swirling around them.

"Oh, Mei. This isn't my first rodeo. I can handle a handsy guy or two. Why don't you tell me the real reason you got up in the middle of the night to come get me," Yuzu taunted sweetly. Her hand came up and traced Mei's jaw with a manicured index finger.

Mei frowned, but she leaned even closer to Yuzu, as if craving the blonde's touch. Her own hand slowly trailed up Yuzu's thigh and over the curve of her hip. "I came to drag home my sorority sister who parties too much."

Yuzu bit down on her lip when she felt Mei's hand stroke her side. It felt provocative. Her dress was very tight and she could feel the heat from Mei's palm. It wasn't hard to imagine the taller woman stroking her bare skin. Was this what Mei wanted? Was Mei trying to provoke her, tease her? Because she could play that game.

A smirk spread over Yuzu's face. "I think you're just mad at the idea that someone would have their hands on me."

Mei stilled.

_Oh shit. _She had gone too far. Said the wrong thing. Yuzu swallowed, an apology forming on her lips.

Mei grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the back of the house, dark with shadows.

She felt her back hit a wall, and the next second, Mei's mouth crashing into hers. The kiss was hungry and possessive. Someone moaned, most likely her. Her hands came up and grabbed the front of both sides Mei's leather jacket, pulling the taller woman closer.

Her heartbeat thumped in time with the deep bass of the music from inside the house. Mei had her pinned against the wall, hands running up and down her sides, squeezing her waist and down to her hips. The kiss was bruising, and she could feel Mei's anger fueling it. It was clear that this was her roommate's response to her taunt about being jealous. She already knew her lips were going to be swollen when Mei drew bottom lip into her mouth and sucked on it sharply.

Knowing that she was partly the cause, Yuzu wanted to soothe Mei's anger and coax her into a slightly gentler kiss. She cupped her Mei's face in her hands and rubbed her thumbs against her cheeks. Licking into Mei's mouth, she engaged their tongues in a languid dance. Pouring all of her passion and desire into the kiss, she meant to show Mei that she was the only person she wanted to be with in this whole party. The only person she wanted to come home with.

It worked. Mei's kiss turned less punishing, and soon they were simply relishing the feeling of their mouths finally being reunited. It felt just as good as they both remembered, from that Halloween night weeks ago.

Mei kissed a trail down to her neck, and Yuzu angled her head to give the brunette access. She gasped when Mei placed a sucking kiss on her neck, arching into the contact. As she was leaning into the almost-bite, she dimly registered that Mei's hips were rocking gently into her between her thighs. A pleased moan fell from her lips as she wrapped her arms around Mei's shoulders, wanting to get even closer. Wanting more contact.

It was only when a thigh found its way between her legs and pressed up, pushing a needy whine out of her, did she snap out of her lust-fueled daze. They were furiously making out in an alley behind a drunken house party, and things were starting to get heated.

"Mei," Yuzu gasped as the woman palmed her breast and squeezed. "H-hold on."

Her roommate didn't seem to hear her, because she simply kept kneading her breast. Then Mei brushed her thumb across her nipple, and she moaned loudly.

Yuzu drew in a few heavy breaths and tried to bat away the arousal churning in her center from her sorority sister playing with her nipple. With difficulty, she gripped Mei's wrist and whispered in her ear. "Babe, stop. We can't do this here. Let's take this back to our room."

Mei pulled back slightly to gaze at her, and Yuzu almost swooned at the sight. Her straight black hair was mussed and _her_ red lipstick smeared on the side of her mouth. She had a hungry look in her face that sent shivers down Yuzu's spine.

The taller woman lowered her thigh from between her legs and removed her hand from her boob. Mei tugged down the hem of her form-fitting dress so that it wasn't riding up her legs anymore.

"Come on." Mei took her hand again and led her towards the car.

* * *

**Author Notes: **

Please let me know what you think of this chapter! : )

Yeah it's been uh, a while since I updated this story, but I spent the _whole _month of August doing a daily prompt writing challenge with fanfic writers Ja55, angel0wonder, and d_wolpertinger. It was great fun but it also took up all my writing time. We posted all our work over in AO3 (Archive of Our Own) under Citrus. Or you can go to our collection via:

Archiveofourown DOT org/collections/30DayPromptWritingChallengeYuriGardenLitClubAugust2019


	6. Under Lover

The ride back home to their sorority house was a quiet, tense affair. If Yuzu wasn't sitting in a fog of alcohol and pent-up arousal, she would have described the car ride as _awkward. _But as it were, she felt like she was going to vibrate out of her skin.

Sitting in the leather passenger seat of Mei's Audi, Yuzu noted this was her first time in her roommate's car. They had been living together for a few months now, but they never really went anywhere together with just the two of them.

And now here she was, sitting in the opulent interior of Mei's luxury vehicle, being driven home from a party in the middle of the night. And unless she was way off base with reading the mood out in the alley, once they got back to their room, they were going to _fuck. _

A shiver went down Yuzu's spine. Taking in a shuddering breath to steady her nerves, she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, tugging at the hem of her skirt self-consciously.

Without saying a word or taking her eyes off the road, Mei reached across the middle console and placed her hand on Yuzu's thigh.

The touch was warm, grounding, but also _exciting. _

Mei didn't try to grope her or tease her or feel her up; her touch was a silent order of _just wait._

Yuzu swallowed and looked out the window, barely seeing the darkened streets of their college town rush past in a blur. She thought about the recent round of tension between them, the slightly uncomfortable atmosphere that permeated the room anytime they were alone in it together.

Riding in the car with Mei's hand possessively touching her leg, racing towards their sorority house, it felt like they had always been two trains trapped on a collision course with each other.

* * *

As soon as their bedroom door was closed, Mei pinned Yuzu against the nearest wall.

The kiss was rough and messy, full of scraping teeth and smacking lips, a complete departure from the atmosphere in the car. The brief pause in the car only seemed to feed the hunger between them, and when their bodies and mouths came together it ignited into flames.

Mei's hands were running up and down Yuzu's sides, feeling up her hips and waist and the curve of her ass. Having denied her own desires for so long, Mei couldn't get enough of these feminine curves under her hands. She wanted to taste every inch of delectable skin under her lips.

Pinned to wall, Yuzu loved being ravished by her stoic roommate. _Wow, maybe I should have called her drunk from a party weeks ago…_

Yuzu felt Mei's hands inch towards the inside of her thighs, and her head fell back against the wall in anticipation. She felt Mei's hot lips on her exposed throat, and she reached up to tangle her fingers on raven locks.

The hem of Yuzus' skirt was now hiked up around the waist. Mei pushed the crotch of Yuzu's soaked panties to the side, and the action was so erotic, so absolutely filthy, it sent a shuddering curl of need through her belly.

When Mei sank two fingers inside her, they both groaned. Loudly. Yuzu with relief from the itch biting her insides; Mei from the elation and wonder of finally experiencing something she had been dreaming about.

Yuzu scrabbled for purchase against the front of Mei's leather jacket as the brunette started to stroke her, her hands fisting against the lapels. She felt like her knees were going to collapse under her. _It feels so damn good, I'm getting close._

She had enough propriety to be embarrassed at how close she already was.

She bit down on her lip, trying to use the sting in her mouth to counter the billowing pleasure threatening to overtake her.

_I can't blow my load when we've hardly started…_

_I'm not a two-pump chump! _

"Bed," Yuzu panted, managing to give Mei a shove as she pushed off the wall.

Mei crashed their lips back together as they start the precarious journey across their dark room to a horizontal surface.

Yuzu pushed the leather jacket from her roommate's shoulders. As they each yanked on a sleeve, Mei bumped her hip on the edge of a desk, tipping a cup over, sending pens to roll onto the floor.

Mei hissed in pain but didn't pause, continuing to shuffle forward as best she could, with Yuzu frantically unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them down. She almost tripped as she tried to walk with her pants pooled around her knees, but Yuzu was making it hard to walk and kiss at the same time when she was pawing all over her front.

They backed into a dresser, and a picture frame knocked over, followed by several cosmetic bottles. Mei pinned Yuzu again, bracketing the shorter woman against the wood with her arms on either side.

The blonde allowed Mei to scatter kisses along her collarbone for several moments before repeating her earlier demand. "Bed."

Mei grabbed her hips and yanked her backwards. She fell on her butt when the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed. A second later, her lap was full of Yuzu as the blonde crawled on top of her and straddled her hips.

* * *

Yuzu woke up to soft sheets and a naked Mei Aihara wrapped around her. The brunette was molded to her bare back with an arm across her midsection. Their legs were tangled together, and her butt was tucked into the curve of Mei's hip.

Burying her head into the pillow, Yuzu breathed in Mei's scent. It smelled heavenly. She shifted her hips minutely, and even smiled at the satisfying ache she found there.

Mei stirred behind her, making a small noise as she nuzzled into the blonde's shoulder. She tightened her hold on the little spoon, pulling her in closer against her bent legs.

Yuzu could feel her heart sink as she felt Mei start to wake up. She wasn't dumb; she knew what was going to happen next. It stung, but she wasn't going to fool herself that last night had miraculously changed anything between them.

This was the morning-after of their **_third_** drunken encounter, after all. She knew the drill. Mei will act like nothing happened, and when confronted, will lash out and/or distance herself.

Yuzu hated it. What she hated more was if given the next opportunity, she probably wouldn't say no.

When she was fairly sure that Mei had her eyes open and was staring at the back of her head, she propped herself up on one elbow. She grumbled, "I know, I know. I'm going."

As she reached for the edge of blanket so she could slip out of Mei's bed, she realized with horror that she was going to have added indignation of walking across their room _naked. _She had no idea where her clothes were. She dimly remembered taking off her clothes like they were on fire last night.

_Fucking fantastic_. _At least no one is here to see my walk of shame. Except the person who banged me, that is._

With a sigh, Yuzu moved towards the edge of the bed.

"No, stay," Mei whispered in a soft, plaintive tone. Her hand on Yuzu's shoulder carried the same sentiment.

Eyes wide and heart skipping in her chest, Yuzu sank back against Mei. The dark haired woman wrapped her arms around her once they went back to their previous position.

They slept until noon, after which they went downstairs and joined their sisters for brunch. Mei sat beside her at the long dining table, and even placed two Advil pills beside her plate for her headache.

x

* * *

Matsuri flicked her eyes away from the Mario Kart game just long enough to look at Yuzu walk into the living room of her house. "Hey. Did you bring the Cheetos?"

"Yeah. I had to go to a 7-Eleven because they didn't have the flaming hot kind in the two gas stations I went to," Yuzu complained as she plopped on the couch. She ripped open the bag and started munching on them as she watched Harumi and Matsuri race around the track as Peach and Daisy, respectively.

Matsuri crowed when she won the game. She reached into the Cheetos bag and scooped out a whole handful of the orange-colored puffs and then crammed it all in her mouth.

Harumi gave her a small glance of concern before she engaged Yuzu in conversation, catching up about their week and talking about sorority-related stuff.

Matsuri watched the two girls as she chewed on the mouthful of Cheetos. _Well Yuzu seems extra bubbly today._ The blonde kept running her fingers through her hair, then tossing it. She also kept touching her own neck.

She narrowed her eyes. _What's gotten into Barbie today? _

"You guys fucked again, didn't you?" Matsuri stated after she swallowed the last of the Cheetos in her mouth.

Yuzu gasped. "Matsuri! What the heck—"

"Don't act all demure with me. Let me guess, Mei did you this time. Well? How was it?" Matsuri smirked as she reached for another handful of Cheetos.

Yuzu thrust the bag towards Matsuri. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"10 over 10, would recommend?"

"No!"

"10 over 10, would bang again?"

"Harumi!" Yuzu screeched and slapped her fists on her thighs.

"Matsuri, stop it," her girlfriend warned.

"You're no fun." Matsuri rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to the video game. "Okay, who wants to challenge the reigning champ?"

Yuzu distractedly reached for the controller, her brow furrowing. Before Matsuri could start the next game, she placed her hand over the pink-haired girl's controller. "Listen, you guys. Let me be serious for a second here. This thing with me and Mei— it's a secret. People can't know about it."

Matsuri pulled a face. "Why?"

"It's just," Yuzu worried her lip before continuing. "Back then… after uh, the first time, Mei was pretty adamant in saying she was straight. It's not like we talked about it, but I'm pretty sure she still thinks that. In any case, I don't think she wants her business to be put on blast."

Matsuri threw her head back. "Dammit! I just _cannot_ when girls dive face first into pussy and then claim they're straight. I mean, is being a lesbian really the worst thing in the world?"

"Matsuri, you can't talk about this, okay?" Yuzu pleaded. "It wouldn't be fair to Mei. You can't just out people like that. And more importantly, she's a sorority president. Of which I am a member_. _I'm sure she will freak out about that too. It doesn't look good."

"You're worried about the optics of two sisters from the most prestigious sorority banging each other," Matsuri restated with derision.

Harumi put her hand on Yuzu's knee. "She won't say anything," reassured the brunette. "Don't worry. We won't say a word to anyone. Your secret is safe with us."

"Thanks." Yuzu gave her friend a tremulous smile.

Harumi drew the blonde in for a tight hug. When they drew back, she said, "It's going to be fine. We're here for you, Yuzu."

"Okay but for real though, cus Harumi and I have bets on this…who tops?" Matsuri quipped.

* * *

Mei was staring at the open pages of her textbook but she wasn't seeing a thing.

She had gone to study at the Business College library while waiting for her Speculative Markets class, but her thoughts kept drifting to a certain blond sorority girl. Truth be told, she couldn't think of anything else.

There were moments of disbelief. _How did we end up having sex __**again**__? _

After the first time on Halloween night, she had convinced herself that it was a fluke. It was a one-time thing. Yuzu was drunk, and she was _weak_. Yuzu was just too damn tempting in that ridiculous costume, and anyone with a pulse would have succumbed when the blonde crawling on top of them. _Yeah._

So she refused to deal with the implications of her actions. She shut down Yuzu's attempts to talk about it, and she was sure the blonde hated for it. Good. She deserved it.

She buried the memories from that night deep into her subconscious. She compartmentalized the out of control attraction she felt for Yuzu into a neat little box and locked it away.

Or at least she tried to.

_Who am I kidding?_

Whenever Yuzu was near her she would remember how their naked bodies felt pressed against each other.

But she didn't mean for it to happen **_again. _**

What was it about Yuzu that made her slip up like this? The blonde was like a splinter in her brain, and the more she picked at it, the deeper it lodged.

Mei screwed her eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

_Okay. I can do this. No more. Not gonna happen again._

_For real this time._

Mei opened her eyes. With a new sense of determination, she went back to preparing for her next class.

She reached into her bookbag for her laptop. After feeling inside the main compartment of her tote, her stomach dropped.

Her laptop wasn't in her bag. She must have forgotten it in her room!

With her heart in her throat, she called the only person who could help her.

Yuzu answered after four rings. "Hello?"

"Yuzu," Mei breathed into the receiver of her iPhone. "Where are you? Are you at the house?"

* * *

Yuzu showed up at the Business Library with her laptop a little over half an hour later.

"You owe me big time." Yuzu grinned as she rocked up to Mei's table, holding up the Macbook Pro in her right hand. "It's a good thing I was still at home when you called. I was about to go to yoga."

Mei bit her lip as she watched the girl approach. Why did Yuzu have to look so gorgeous all the time? It was a Monday morning in the middle of semester and most of the other students on campus looked like death warmed over. But Yuzu's face beamed like a spring morning. Her smile was soft and inviting.

Her blond hair was swept up into a messy bun with a few golden tendrils tickling her neck. She was wearing her baby blue Chi Theta Sigma hoodie over black tights. The tights hugged every svelte curve of Yuzu's legs.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." Mei said quietly after Yuzu sat on the chair across from her. "If I don't hand in this paper in class today, my prof will knock 50% off the grade for turning it in late."

"Wow. Harsh," Yuzu commented, drumming her manicured nails on the table.

They sat in silence at the table as Mei quickly opened up the document on her computer and wirelessly sent it to the nearest printer in the library.

When Mei returned with her printed paper to the desk, she sat next on the chair next to Yuzu. After a few long moments where a war waged in her mind, she touched Yuzu's hip with her fingertips.

"I can't stop thinking about it," Mei said quietly, the confession falling from her lips easier than she expected. Her fingertips brushed the tight material of Yuzu's tights, skimming down to the front of the blonde's thighs.

Yuzu angled her head towards Mei. "Me neither."

Mei watched her own fingers tracing small circles on Yuzu's thigh. It was easier to keep her eyes down, especially when she could feel the blonde's gaze on the side of her face.

"It keeps playing on a loop in my head. How you touched me," Yuzu said in a low voice right beside her ear, and she barely suppressed the shiver that wanted to rattle her spine.

"I really liked touching you," Mei said softly as her palm flattened against the front of Yuzu's thigh. Her heart was like a hummingbird in her chest. It should also have concerned her how easy these confessions were rolling off her tongue now. "I liked it a lot, even though I know we shouldn't be doing this."

Yuzu leaned forward and brushed her nose and mouth up the curve of the other girl's cheek. "Why not?" She dragged the tip of her tongue along the shell of Mei's ear, leaving a trail of wet fire. "You felt so good inside me."

This time, Mei actually shivered at the words, populating her mind with images from the other night, when the blonde was under her, open and wanting. She squeezed her thighs together as the familiar ache started to make itself known.

"It's just," Mei breathed, grasping at straws. "Not a good idea. We're sorority sisters. And I'm the president. I shouldn't do this to you."

Yuzu laid her hand on top of hers. The blonde's palm felt soft and cool against hers. Mei found the gesture unbearably sweet.

That is until Yuzu tugged her hand towards the waist band of her tights. The gesture didn't seem quite so sweet then.

Mei heart leapt into her throat as Yuzu guided her hand first up her stomach, then gently nudged it under the elastic hem of her pants.

"What are you doing?" Mei whispered fiercely. Her head snapped up and scanned the room in panic, even though she knew they were in a deserted part of the library. Only shelves and shelves of books were their witness.

"I'm showing you what you do to me."

Yuzu pushed her hand further down, and Mei was helpless to resist. She felt herself freefall through the sky, whooshing past billowing clouds, falling faster as she neared the ground; a demonstration of gravity.

The tips of Mei's fingers glided over Yuzu's bare slit, where she found her _drenched. _

"Ohhhh…" was all that came out of Mei's mouth. With an exploratory stroke, she felt Yuzu's clit was swollen and stiff.

"This is what you do to me." Yuzu leaned closer towards Mei's line of sight, forcing eye contact between them. "Just being near you makes me so _wet_."

Mei stared at Yuzu's beautiful face, soaking up the neediness that tinged the blonde's expression. Her own mouth went dry, but there were several parts of her body that were also steadily getting wetter.

"What are you going to do about it? This is your fault," Yuzu's accusation didn't hold any real bite. Her voice was low and silky, and compelling Mei into _action._

What _was_ she going to do about it? She was Mei Aihara after all. President of Chi Theta Sigma. Top of the 2020 Business Honors class. Future CEO of Aihara Corporation. She didn't turn away from something that was her 'fault'. She was going to take responsibility.

"Let me take care of this for you then." She punctuated the statement by rolling Yuzu's clit, slick and hard against the pads of her fingers.

Yuzu's eyelashes fluttered; Mei watched her face intently.

Mei felt Yuzu open her legs wider under the table, making room for her hand to go lower.

Was she really going to do this? She had just enough functioning brain cells to realize that this was insane.

But one look at the smoldering expression on Yuzu's face, the pupils of her eyes blown wide, a dusting of pink on her cheeks, her mouth slightly parted—Mei was done for. She would follow Yuzu through the gates of hell if that's where the golden-haired siren beckoned.

Mei moved her hand lower and slipped inside Yuzu with her middle finger, meeting no resistance because the blonde was _soaked. _

Yuzu closed her eyes and her head fell back as Mei started stroking in and out. After a few moments, Mei slipped in a second finger, and a long, needy mewl spilled from the blonde's throat.

"Shhhh." Mei pressed her lips against Yuzu's temple. Affection surged in her chest as she watched the girl struggling to keep it together. She wanted to pleasure Yuzu until the blonde couldn't take it anymore but also wanted to soothe and encourage her through the challenge of keeping quiet in a public place as she got fingered. "You've got to be quiet. People will hear if you get too loud."

"O-okay." Yuzu's breath hiccupped as Mei's sank her fingers deeper inside the blonde, parting her slick, trembling walls.

"Good girl."

Yuzu gave a clipped whine at Mei's praise, her head falling forward on the taller woman's shoulder. Both hands fisted the front of Mei's shirt, and her hips rocked urgently against the brunette's hand, chasing the delicious friction from her fingers. Luckily, the wooden chair didn't creak. Much.

With Yuzu's panting breath puffing against her collarbone, Mei pumped her hand faster, overcome by the urge to see her roommate come undone. Mei wanted to see her _wrecked. _

Not slowing down her thrusts, Mei pressed the heel of her palm flat against Yuzu's mound. With the new angle, she was able to simultaneously plunge fingers into Yuzu's searing wet heat and put pressure on the blonde's clit.

Yuzu didn't need to be told what to do with a hand cupping her center. She rolled her hips forward to grind on Mei's palm, which immediately slicked over with her arousal.

Yuzu's thighs trembled at the surge of white hot pleasure that erupted from the added friction on her clit, tremors rippling through her upper leg muscles. Her breathing was coming in shuddering gasps. The need to keep quiet made the pressure building in her stomach even more intense, like a lid on pot about to boil over.

Mei could tell Yuzu was about to come when she tightened around her fingers, wrapping her digits in a silken vice. Her roommate was now moaning brokenly against her neck, but still low enough that only Mei could hear her.

"Oh my," Yuzu panted against her neck. "Oh my god, Mei, I'm going to—"

When she came, Yuzu slammed her legs close, clenching Mei's hand between her thighs. She tipped forward, slipping a little from her seat, falling against Mei's front.

Holding Yuzu against her with the arm that wasn't trapped between the blonde's legs, Mei could feel the orgasm surge through Yuzu like a cresting wave, arching her spine before crashing down to make its way through the rest of her body. She could feel every shudder, tremble, and panting breath.

Mei _loved_ it.

She really, really love it. It felt incredible the first time she did it –- make Yuzu come. She had thought that it could just have been beginner's luck, the fact that she made Yuzu orgasm so hard she almost blacked out.

But now, as Yuzu peered up at her with lidded, glassy eyes, a light sheen of sweat on her brow, cheeks ruddy, looking thoroughly _fucked_ – Mei discovered that she absolutely, completely, loved this feeling.

_I could get addicted to this. _

_Oh boy._

* * *

_"__Amy, do you know how many girls are going to be up your vagina at Columbia next year? Every time I come to visit you, you're just going to be scissoring a different girl."_

_"__Dude, scissoring is not a thing.__"_

_"__Don't knock it until you've tried it.__"_

A laugh bubbled up from Harumi's throat as she watched two teenage girls ham it up on the 50-inch screen mounted on the wall above an entertainment console.

It was movie night at the Chi Theta Sigma house, and all the sisters were gathered in the large living room watching _Booksmart_. The buddy comedy was a great choice for tonight's movie. The two main characters were best friends who spent their whole high school life trying to get into Ivy-league universities, only to find out that their slacker peers had all gotten in too.

_**Molly:**__ "__You know what, my vag is stuffed with diplomas. Soon it's going to be stuffed with job offers, and glowing profiles, and commendations from the governor. So, while you guys were all studying AP hand jobs, I was kicking ass and busting curves. And I'm going to continue to do that at Yale next year. So, I like my choices, and wherever you three are next year, I hope you do too."_

_**Annabel: "**__I'm going to Yale too."_

_**Molly: "**__What?"_

_**Annabel: "**__I'm incredible at hand jobs, but I also got a fifteen-sixty on the SATs."_

Harumi laughed again, making the can of Dr. Pepper in her hand shake. Molly, the character in the movie who was the high school's student council president, reminded her of Mei Aihara. They were both so cut-throat about their academics that it was comical.

_Speaking of Mei…_

Not turning her head away from the TV screen, Harumi flicked her gaze to the other end of the enormous L-shaped couch. Yuzu and Mei were both under a red plaid blanket, a large bowl of popcorn on the blonde's lap.

_Well those two look super cozy. Since when did Mei share a blanket with anyone?_

Seriously, this was the first time Harumi had ever seen Mei sit this close to anyone during movie night. Yuzu was sort of leaning against Mei's side, her torso pressed up against the brunette's. It was dark in the room because the lights were out, but Harumi guessed that Mei's arm was wrapped around Yuzu's back.

_And now they're practically cuddling. _

The movie continued.

All the other girls were engrossed in the movie, laughing their heads off every few minutes at the hilarious one-liners, but Harumi kept stealing glances at the two roommates on the edge of the couch. She was pretty sure she was the only person in the room watching the two and the unprecedented show of physical closeness from the sorority president.

It was normal for the sorority sisters to be cuddly and touchy with each other, but _not_ with Mei Aihara.

The movie was nearing its climax. Two girls were awkwardly attempting to have sex in the bathroom of a graduation party.

_"__That's not the hole you think it is."_

Beside her, Sasha shrieked with laughter and second-hand embarrassment, but Harumi couldn't fully concentrate on what was happening on the screen. Yuzu was now fully leaning against Mei, her head on the sorority president's shoulder. Judging by the lumps under the blanket, their legs were tangled together. Mei even had a small smile on her face. _They are legit snuggling. Oh my god._

"How can anyone confuse a vag for an asshole?" Paige protested loudly.

"Well, she's drunk and super nervous," Kayla said sagely, taking a slow sip of her Diet Coke. "It happens."

"Have _you_ ever confused the two?"

A lively argument sprang up between the several of the girls about the plausibility of mistaking one hole for another, the movie forgotten for the moment.

Harumi watched Mei slowly extricate herself from the couch. The sorority president made a breezy comment about being tired and sleepy and that she was going to turn in. No one really paid much attention to her departure, the group still engaged in their debate.

After about five minutes, Yuzu got up and made a similarly vague excuse about needing to finish her report for class. After carelessly folding the blanket over the back of the couch, the blonde scampered away to her room.

* * *

Yuzu poured herself a cup of coffee and slipped into a bar stool at the kitchen island beside Harumi. Yawning, the blonde attempted to swipe one of Harumi's poptarts but the brunette swatted her hand.

"Did you do your report last night?"

Yuzu paused, her coffee cup inches from her lips. "Oh. Yeah. Totally got it done."

Harumi spun her barstool towards her friend and raised an eyebrow. "Does your report go by the name of Mei Aihara?"

"Shhhhh!" Yuzu pinched her friend's arm.

"Relax. No one's here." Harumi gestured to the empty kitchen with her half-eaten Poptart.

"Okay fine, fine. But for real Harumi, this needs to be on the down low."

"So…are you guys like in a relationship now?"

Yuzu gave a bark of laughter. "As if. Can you imagine Mei being in a relationship with **_me_**? I guess we're friends with benefits."

"Oh so now you're _friends._"

"Well, it seems like we're no longer enemies," Yuzu said thoughtfully, tracing the rim of her coffee mug with her finger. "She's stopped giving me hateful looks."

"And now she just gives you orgasms."

That earned a shriek and a sharp poke in the ribs from Yuzu.

"You're terrible! Matsuri is rubbing off on you." Yuzu paused when she realized the opportunity for a pun. She smirked and said, "Oh wait. That's cus she rubs one out for you."

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

The air was crisp and sweet. The leaves had changed colors, the treescape a swath of red, orange, and yellow. As dry leaves crunched underneath her feet, Yuzu decided she was in love with _fall. _

Before she moved to the Midwest, she had seen plenty of movies that featured the autumn season in all its glory. There were characters in cozy sweaters and scarves, walking in Central Park against a backdrop of colorful fall foliage. The man and woman would fall in love as they walked their dogs and sipped their warm drinks, scarlet and gold leaves falling gently around them. Movies like _When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, Autumn in New York._

Fall seemed like a super romantic time to fall in love.

"Yuzu, do you want to try their pumpkin pie? They're pretty famous for it." Mei touched her elbow gently. They were walking around with several of their sorority sisters in Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch and Cider Mill.

Yuzu turned towards Mei. The girl was wearing a dark grey wool jacket and a tan-colored plaid scarf in a slip knot around her neck. The late afternoon sun lit up her pretty eyes and cast a soft golden glow over her pale skin, her long bangs fanning over her cheeks. There was a shy, hesitant smile on her face, as if she was _eager_for Yuzu to taste and enjoy this slice of pumpkin pie.

_Oh. Wow. _

Yuzu felt a fluttering in her chest. She loved pumpkin-flavored things, and Mei must have remembered.

_She is the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on._

"Yeah." Yuzu nodded with a wide smile. It was all she could manage to say at the moment.

_Why do I feel like my heart is gonna fly out of my body?_

Their group made their way to the "Pie Palace," an enormous red barn converted into a pastry shop. As the girls stood in front of the chalkboard that listed all the available pies (pumpkin, apple, cherry, blueberry, pecan, walnut, Boston cream). When they got to the counter and Yuzu handed over her American Express card, Yuzu was told that the Pie Palace was _cash only. _And the whole of Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch and Cider Mill, apparently. She started to say that she didn't have any cash on her, but Mei handed the clerk a $20 bill before she could even ask.

"Oh man, thanks for spotting me Mei. I'll pay you back when we get home, okay? Remind me if I forget."

Mei waved her hand dismissively before she sat down at a picnic table with both of their plates. "Don't worry about it. My treat."

Yuzu grinned and slipped into the bench beside her. Mei watched her intently as she stabbed her pie with a fork and brought the piece to her mouth.

Yuzu swallowed and licked her lips. "Oh my god. This is delicious."

A smile tugged on one side of her Mei's mouth. The brunette tucked a lock of raven hair behind her ear before she ate her own slice.

_There's that smile again. My heart is doing that thing…_

They chatted about the harvest-themed décor of the place as they ate: garlands of fall leaves, wreaths with decorative gourds, hay bales, and cornstalks. Before the rest of the girls joined them at their table, Mei asked her if she wanted to try the apple crumble. She nodded, and before she could reach for Mei's plate, the dark-haired girl was holding up a fork a few inches from her mouth.

The color that appeared on both their cheeks was identical to the barn after Mei fed Yuzu a piece of pie.

* * *

Mei's thoughts jumped to the work she needed to do for her capstone project, waiting at her desk. All Business majors in the Honors College had to take a 1-credit pre-req course for the Capstone course that all graduating seniors had to take in the spring semester. The course wasn't too hard, but she needed to put in several hours of research if she wanted to turn in a good project proposal. And of course, she wanted to turn in the _best _capstone proposal that the Fisher College of Business would receive from this year's graduating class.

Surprisingly, these concerns only crossed her mind once since she arrived at the pumpkin patch with her sisters. Normally, she would be consumed with guilt and anxiety if she was doing things that took away from her schoolwork.

But it was the perfect fall day: sunny, the air crisp and cool, the leaves in peak color. And Mei knew this was the last opportunity to come to the "Autumn Jamboree!" that was advertised for this pumpkin patch.

This place had all the stereotypical fall activities packaged in small-town Americana charm: an orchard for apple-picking, a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, a hay ride, a s'mores pit, a haunted house, and a petting zoo.

She knew that Yuzu would _love_ this place. And she really wanted to see Yuzu's face light up when she laid her eyes on a field of pumpkins. She wanted to watch Yuzu inspect the rows of bright orange orbs and pick out the one she liked.

Mei wanted to see that more than needing to do her capstone project. It was a new feeling. She didn't want to analyze this strange compulsion too closely.

"Hey." Yuzu had snuck up behind her and was speaking next to her ear. "I got you something."

Yuzu held up a bright red apple in her line of sight. "It's a Fuji apple."

When they at the orchard earlier, they discovered that only the McIntosh, Gala, and Braeburn varieties were available to be picked. The other varieties were roped off from the public, a big "Do Not Pick" sign in front of the rows.

Mei had mentioned to Yuzu that Fuji was her favorite kind of apple. That was months ago.

"Did you disregard a posted sign to get this?" Mei asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep."

"Such a rule-breaker." Mei couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she took the fruit from her roommate. She didn't resist when Yuzu pulled out her phone and insisted they take a selfie with the apple.

"Gonna post this on Insta, okay? We look super cute."

Mei gave a little nod as permission. Their photo _was_ super cute. Even with Yuzu poking her cheek with a peace sign. She always thought that particular pose was weird, but Yuzu managed to look freaking adorable.

She realized that this was their first photo together.

_Yeah, totally worth it to be here. _

* * *

"Hey babe, should we find a secluded spot and make out?" Matsuri asked her as they entered the corn maze. It was fully dark now, but the silver moon and the clear night sky gave enough light to navigate the corn maze without the need of a flashlight.

"No." Harumi walked in front of her girlfriend. "Everyone's in here, there's no secluded spot. The girls don't want to see us sucking face, Matsuri."

"Awww, you're no fun," Matsuri said with disappointment in her voice. "I wanted to come here cus I thought it would be romantic and stuff."

Harumi turned around to look at the pink-haired girl, wanting to know if Matsuri was genuinely disappointed or just running her mouth.

Matsuri had a smirk and that determined expression on her face, the moonlight glinting off the pink ombre wash of her hair. She held a bag of kettle corn on one hand and a bowl of chili cheese fries on the other. Harumi herself was holding a cup of hot apple cider that Matsuri asked her to carry.

_Seriously, why do I even like this girl? _

_Her stomach is like a bottomless pit. She's double-fisting junk food after we just ate dinner. She has no filter. She acts all ratchet even though she grew up in a wealthy suburb in Massachusetts. She's totally living up the broke-ass college student aesthetic even though her family is as bougie as they come. She plays computer games all day. She's a sex fiend. She keeps bugging me to dress up as DVa from that video game. _

"Well?" Matsuri came closer, peering up at her though long eyelashes, a hint of mischief curling her pretty lips.

The girl was something like a train wreck, but damn if she wasn't freaking gorgeous.

"Don't you want to be able to say that you made out with your girlfriend in a corn maze, under the moonlight, on a perfect fall night?" Matsuri drawled.

It seemed like Matsuri was done wheedling her, but then she added in a more quiet tone, "This might be our only chance."

Hearing the uncharacteristically sad tone in Matsuri's voice sent a twinge of pain in her chest.

Next fall, she wouldn't be here because she'll be doing a Study Abroad in Japan. While one could technically visit this place during the summer, when it was open for berry-picking and the farmer's market, they wouldn't be spending their summer break together. Right? Why would they? Matsuri would be back home in Massachusetts and she would be with her grandma in Indiana.

_Heck, we might not make it past winter break. _

Because Harumi knew how these things went. College relationships as a rule were pretty short-lived, lasting for a few months at most. There were just so many available people in college, so many variables, so much pressure from schoolwork…it was clearly easier to just casually date a string of people. She's done that before, and Matsuri certainly had too.

Harumi knew. She did the math in her head and reviewed the anecdotal evidence.

_Our relationship is nearing its expiration date._

Harumi tried to ignore the tightness in her chest that was paining her.

She looped her arm over Matsuri's arm, the one that was clutching the bag of kettle corn. "C'mon. I looked at the map earlier and I found a spot that should have few people walking through."

Harumi led them deep into the corn maze, relying on her photographic memory to plot their path to the area she was thinking of. They walked silently; the only sound was the susurrus of the wind rustling through the tall cornstalks.

She was in front, which was why she caught sight of them first.

Standing in a little alcove off the main path, Mei and Yuzu had their arms wrapped around each other, kissing.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

_Booksmart_ is the funniest movie I've seen so far in 2019. I highly recommend. Oh, and if it's not obvious, it's the peak of the autumn season where I live. The leaves have changed colors, it's sweater weather, pumpkin everywhere, the whole nine yards. It's my favorite time of year.

Hope y'all liked this update. I'll be working on my other WIP, My Sister's Alpha, next. The soonest I'll get to update this will be in a month or so. By then it'll be nearing (American) Thanksgiving IRL, and also in this story. I've got some interesting things cooked up for this story.

As usual, let me know what you think!


	7. No Love

_It's just sex, _Mei insisted to herself as Yuzu crawled on top of her, barely after pulling the car door closed. Hands grasped the sides of her face and the next second Yuzu's lips were on hers, kissing her with urgency. Her lips parted with no resistance and she eagerly let Yuzu's tongue into her mouth, seeking it with her own. _Just some fun, no-strings attached sex._

In the dark_, _her fingers found the hem of Yuzu's sweater and pulled up, breaking their kiss when the garment reached the blonde's neck. When the sweater was discarded, Mei surged forward, her lips landing on the dip between Yuzu's collarbones. She licked the sensitive skin there before tracing the delicate collarbone with her mouth.

_We're just letting off steam. _They're fumbling around frantically in the dark in the back of her car because _college is so stressful. _Her fingers reached behind Yuzu's back to unhook her bra with a deft snap of her fingers. The moan that she was able to pull from Yuzu's throat when she began kneading her bare breasts sent an electric thrill down her spine.

_Everyone has a steamy sex story from their college life. _The way that Yuzu was riding her hand, hips rolling sensually in her lap, would definitely qualify as steamy. Mei couldn't tear her eyes off the blonde straddling her, but she could bet that her car windows were probably fogging up. As Yuzu pushed her down on the backseat and shifted herself in a position that would give her even more control of their movements, Mei was confident that that this would rate as the steamiest moment in her college life.

Yuzu came with a cry, the sound ringing in the closed space of the car. Mei wanted to drink up this moment, commit it to memory. The way Yuzu's head felt on her chest as their breathing slowly returned to normal. The way their lips sought each other when Yuzu tilted her head up. By the way Yuzu pressed their mouths together, Mei knew that the kiss that Yuzu wanted was soft and gentle. Not the searing, lust-filled kisses that they exchanged when they first tumbled into the car, the kind that precipitated their frenzied sexual encounters.

After sex Yuzu always wanted to be held tenderly and lovingly.

It was cute. Adorable, even. And so Mei always obliged her. She _totally_ didn't mind.

_Sex doesn't have to mean anything. We're just having fun._ And if Yuzu wanted sweetness after mind-blowing sex, it was fine.

Mei gently stroked the length of Yuzu's back with her palm, smiling at the way the blonde gave a little sigh before melting even further into her.

After a little while Yuzu raised her head. "Do we have go back in now? They're gonna notice we're gone."

Mei smiled up at Yuzu, tucking a lock of hair behind the girl's ear. "It's okay. I think we have a few more minutes. Once Kayla gets a turn at the karaoke she'll insist on doing at least three songs."

Yuzu dropped her head back on her chest with a happy little sigh.

_I'm allowed to have a little fun._

* * *

"It's snowing!"

Mei's eyes fluttered open. With a small groan, she propped herself up on her elbow and rubbed her eyes.

Yuzu was standing in front of their bedroom window watching fluffy snowflakes drift down. Outside, the world was covered in white. It must have started snowing sometime in the night.

Yuzu stood at the window with her legs bare. The only thing she was wearing was her baby blue Chi Theta Sigma hoodie. Her eyes were wide as she took in the snowfall, like a kid on Christmas morning. Watching her roommate, Mei felt a tug in her chest. She noted that she felt that little ache in her heart a lot lately, and it always happened when she was looking at Yuzu.

Mei's brows knitted together. _What is this feeling?_

The blonde was just so damn endearing. Yuzu shone like the sun, and Mei just couldn't help but be drawn to her warmth. She also had so much _joie de vivre_, so different from Mei's own personality and temperament. Opposites attract, right? _Yeah, that's it._

"Is this the first time you've seen snow?"

Yuzu turned to look at her. "Nah, I've been to Big Bear a few times. But never when the snow was coming down like this." She peered out the window again, looking up to see the snowflakes descend from above. "It's so beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," Mei said in a whisper. She didn't actually mean for those words to come out of her mouth.

"What was that?" Yuzu asked distractedly, still pushed up against the windowpane, gazing towards the sky.

"Nothing."

Mei laid her head back down on her pillow but continued to watch Yuzu looking out at the winter wonderland. She could see goosebumps on the girl's legs. "Aren't you cold?"

Yuzu let the curtain fall back against the window and walked towards Mei's bed. "A little bit," she said with a little smirk. She slipped under the sheets and presented her back to Mei. "So warm me back up."

Mei gave a little huff but complied, draping the comforter over the both of them before wrapping her arm around Yuzu's midsection and pulling her close.

* * *

Matsuri groggily sat up in her bed. She rolled her neck around and groaned at the stiffness in her muscles. Checking the time on her phone, she groaned even louder when she saw that it was almost 1pm. If she didn't want to completely fail her Software Engineering class, she had to put in at least six hours of work today. _Fucking dumb. College is such a scam._

She looked out the window and was mildly surprised to see snowflakes drift past. Craning her neck let her see out into the street, she guessed that there had to be a least two inches of snow on the ground.

Matsuri was loathe to be the responsible one, but it was time to get up. She couldn't fail this semester. She never really cared before, but now she had a really compelling reason not to be a fuck-up.

And that reason was the beautiful woman asleep beside her. Softly stroking her bare arm, Matsuri roused Harumi as gently as she could. "Babe, wake up. We promised Yuzu we'd meet her at the Fleetwood diner at noon and it's already 1pm."

Harumi made a small groan and simply tightened her arms around the pillow she was hugging.

Matsuri pressed a soft kiss on her shoulder. "C'mon babe. It snowed last night, it's real pretty outside."

An unhappy grunt was Harumi's response.

A devious smile crawled over Matsuri's mouth. Reaching under the pillow that Harumi held against her chest, she cupped the older girl's boob and started kneading them. She nuzzled into the brunette's neck for good measure.

"Dammit, Matsuri!"

Despite the grousing, Harumi didn't make a move to throw off her girlfriend's wandering hands off her naked body. She simply wiggled her bottom back towards Matsuri, hoping she could entice the pink-haired girl back to sleep.

"As much as I'm tempted to just stay in bed with your bangin' body all day, I really have work on my project."

Harumi turned towards her and wound an arm around her neck. "Okay. I'm getting up, I promise. So you need to do a lot of work for your program?"

Nodding, Matsuri replied, "Yeah. The prototype needs to be ready before Thanksgiving break."

"Oh yeah." Harumi paused for a moment before asking, "What are your plans for Thanksgiving break? Are you planning to go home?"

"My parents offered to fly me home to Boston, but nah." Matsuri rolled her eyes dismissively. "It's not like I'll actually see them. They'll show up for Thanksgiving dinner but the rest of the time they'll be working or whatever. Not worth it."

Worrying her lip between her teeth, Harumi stared at Matsuri for a long moment, as if trying to search for hidden answers in her girlfriend's face.

Finally she asked, "Well how about you come with me to South Bend? I talked to my Grandma yesterday and she said she wouldn't mind at all if I brought a guest for the long weekend."

Matsuri's mouth quirked. "So I'll be your _guest_?" A dry chuckle tumbled from her lips. "No I'm fine, babe. Don't worry about me. I'll just play games all day and then order pizza for Thanksgiving. It'll also give me time to work on my program."

"I told Grandma that I have a girlfriend, and she wants to meet you," Harumi said softly.

"You told your grandma about us? She knows you're gay? And she didn't freak out?" Matsuri's eyes were wide.

Harumi huffed. "I told you that Mitsuko came out to my Grandma after high school. She's had a few years to get used to the idea."

Matsuri couldn't help the smile stretching wide across her face. "Okay. I'd love to go home with you."

* * *

It was getting close to the end of the fall semester, and Yuzu really should be buckling down and concentrate on her schoolwork instead of going on a leadership retreat. She really should spend the weekend getting caught up with the readings for her Environmental Law class, but truth be told, Yuzu _loved_ retreats.

She loved traveling to a different place, even if it was just to a small convention center a couple of hours away, and staying overnight and attending seminars and doing teambuilding sessions. That was her _jam._ She was a people person, and leadership retreats were all about spending time and getting to know other people.

And since she was new to this Chi Theta Sigma chapter, it was also important that she participate in the major activities of the sorority. And a leadership retreat for all the CTS chapters in the Big 10 schools definitely counted as major.

Holding up two shirts on hangers, Yuzu debated on which to take to the retreat.

"The white one. It's super cute on you," Mei said behind her back. Like Yuzu, she was standing by her bed packing her overnight bag. "And they look really great with your light-wash skinny jeans."

"Mei Aihara." Yuzu lowered the two shirts and teased, "How long have you been checking me out? If I didn't know any better I'd say that you've had a crush on me since day one."

Yuzu definitely remembered the first day they met. Mei looked at her like she was dirt at the bottom of her shoe. She was so intimidated by her new roommate that she considered begging any one of the other sisters in the house to switch with her.

"Yeah, you wish." Mei's voice lacked any real bite, and there was even a hint of a smile on her lips.

* * *

The Big Ten Chi Theta Sigma retreat was held in a convention center in Columbus, Ohio. The attendees from the different chapters were staying in the nearby Marriot and Hyatt hotels from Friday evening to Sunday morning.

Harumi was walking back to her hotel when she pulled out her phone from her purse. Before she left campus for the retreat, she had warned Matsuri that she probably will be too busy to call her while she was in Columbus. The pink-haired girl was understanding, giving her a kiss goodbye and a sly _don't miss me too much._

It bothered Harumi slightly that she _did_ miss the little snark machine. She had only been away for one night, but she wanted to talk with her girlfriend. _Ridiculous_. She's had a few relationships before, but she was never the type to call on the phone after a few days apart because she _missed_ them.

"Hi babe. How's it going?" Matsuri's voice answered on the third ring, video game music blaring in the background.

A warm feeling spread in Harumi's chest when she heard Matsuri's voice, even though it sounded like the girl was in the middle of something. "Not much. Just got done with dinner and I'm heading back to my room."

"You have a hotel room by yourself? You gonna pick up a sexy stranger from the hotel bar and bring them back to your room?" Matsuri snickered.

Harumi scowled. A bitchy retort was chambered on her tongue and ready to fire. Something along the lines of _I'm sure I would have no problem finding someone sleep with me_ but she bit it back just in time. Matsuri just said the dumbest things sometimes, just because it sounded funny or shocking. Sometimes she really wondered what she was doing with her.

"No, I am not," she grumbled as she stepped onto an empty elevator and pressed the button for the 7th floor. "I'm sharing the room with Yuzu, and I'm guessing she won't appreciate it if I brought a stranger back to our room and banged them."

"Oh, you're rooming with Yuzu? How come she's not sharing with Mei? They've been joined at the hip lately."

"The executive board had to register for the conference months ago, so they reserved their rooms way in advance. Mei's sharing a room with Himeko," Harumi explained as she walked down the hallway of the 7th floor, reading the brass room numbers on each door.

Matsuri hummed in her ear before saying, "So how's the conference? Doing trust falls and learning how to be a better sorority sister and stuff?"

"Not quite. Today's breakout sessions were about diversity and programming for service learning. And just a whole lot of networking with members from other chapters. Being surrounded by hundreds of sorority girls for hours is exhausting. I'm peopled out," Harumi mumbled as she pinched the phone between her cheek and shoulder, rummaging in her bag for the key card for the hotel room door.

"Aww. You exhausted from socializing? My poor babe," Matsuri cooed sweetly. "Do you wish you could just crawl into bed with me and we'd cuddle up and kiss?"

Harumi was glad no one was around to see her face heat up. Matsuri was such a little shit, but sometimes she would say things that was so disarming that it made her bite her lip to keep from grinning like a fool.

"Taking a nap with you sounds really good right now actually," Harumi said softly as she waved the keycard in front of the scanner. The light turned green for a second, and Harumi turned the door handle with a quiet click.

She moved slowly as she entered the room, pushing the door with her hip, both hands occupied with her bag and phone, but not willing to put down the call with her girlfriend.

Matsuri gushed, "Oh babe me too! I wanna give you kisses all over your pretty face and smell you…."

Harumi was listening intently to her girlfriend's words, slightly shocked at how natural it felt to be saying lovey-dovey words to each other over the phone, when she heard a breathy sigh coming from deeper inside the room.

_Is Yuzu here? I didn't see her at dinner but I figured she went to a different restaurant. Was she here the whole time?_

Then Harumi thought she heard a _moan_ coming from the same direction. She couldn't be sure; Matsuri was still cooing in her ear.

A wrinkle appeared between Harumi's eyebrows as she stepped towards the main area of the hotel room. _Is Yuzu sick or something?_

The sight that greeted Harumi made the brunette jerk back behind the wall corner in reflex, barely suppressing a yelp of surprise.

Mei Aihara, sorority president of their illustrious chapter, was sitting completely naked on Yuzu's bed. Mei's back was pressed to Yuzu's chest. The blonde's hand was between her spread legs, the other was kneading her breast. Mei's arms were raised behind her to loop around Yuzu's neck to hold her closer.

_Holy fucking shit._

Harumi bit the inside of her cheek as she slowly backed away towards the door. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she frantically tried to remember if her phone would make a loud sound if she ended the call with Matsuri.

It didn't seem like her two sorority sisters heard anything so far though, because they didn't stop what they were doing. Or at least, Yuzu didn't stop doing Mei.

Harumi closed her eyes, but the image of Yuzu's fingers buried inside a very aroused and willing Mei Aihara was burned into her retinas. Mei's sideswept hair was like a midnight waterfall cascading down to her shoulders, while Yuzu sucked on the free side of her neck. Mei's eyes were closed in bliss, her long, dark lashes fanning against her rosy cheeks.

Feeling hysterical, Harumi got the urge to snap a picture of the two. The way they were draped around each other was actually kind of artistic. If she took the photo from the side it would hide Mei's bits and it would count as tasteful nudity. And let's just be honest – both Mei and Yuzu were super hot.

_I bet Yuzu would appreciate this candid photo of her and Mei!_

"Oh, yes, just like that." Mei's breathy voice floated towards Harumi's hiding place behind the corner.

_Oh god, I have to get out here!_

Harumi held her breath as she crept out of the room as quietly as she could muster. Matsuri was still on the phone as she went down to the lobby, where she spent half an hour talking to her girlfriend before finally sending a text to Yuzu that said she was on her way back to their room.

Mei was gone when Harumi showed up. Yuzu ordered room service and they chatted about the workshops they attended. They chose a movie to watch on the TV but they both fell asleep to before it was even halfway over.

* * *

The committee meeting of the presidents of Chi Theta Sigma in the Big Ten was adjourned after a long two hours of reports from each chapter and planning for the next year.

Mei lingered for a few minutes to chat with the girls who were seated beside hear. When Mei saw Siobhan, the chapter president of Northwestern University, head towards the door, she got up and grabbed her things. Saying a quick goodbye to the other CTS girls, Mei followed the leggy redhead towards the exit.

Siobhan smiled widely when she saw Mei catch up to her, raising her arms for a quick hug. "It's so good to see you. How you been, girl?"

Mei wasn't a hugger but she happily squeezed the tall redhead. She'd known Siobhan for three years, and they bonded during their first Chi Theta Sigma conference when they were sophomores.

"I've been doing really well," Mei said with a genuine smile. It was true— she had been feeling really happy lately. "How are you and James?"

"Ugh, don't say his name." Siobhan scrunched up her pretty face in a playful grimace and tossed her long auburn curls. "We broke up. I'm single and ready to mingle." She gave a conspiratorial wink.

Mei laughed. "Come on, let's go get a coffee before the next session starts and you can tell me all about it."

As they were walking towards the café in the ground floor of the conference, Yuzu suddenly appeared by Mei's side. The blonde hooked an arm around her elbow, pressed close and said a low, "Hi."

Mei stiffened slightly, feeling self-conscious at Yuzu being so touchy with her out in the open, especially in front of someone like Siobhan. Distantly she realized she was being silly, she hugged Siobhan herself, for goodness sake. Still, she couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive. As casually as she could, she shrugged off Yuzu's arm as she introduced Siobhan to her roommate.

"You look really familiar," Siobhan tilted head at Yuzu while biting on her pouty lower lip. "Where have I seen you before? Not here in a sorority function…but like, in a football game maybe?"

"Oh, I was in the UCLA cheer team," Yuzu responded with a wide smile. "I was in all the Bruins games the last two years. Before I moved out here, of course."

"Yes!" Siobhan exclaimed and placed her arm on Yuzu's arm. "That's it. My ex-boyfriend played for the Wildcats and I flew out to see him play at the Sun Bowl against the Bruins. It's been over a year but I totally remember you on the cheerleading squad. You were _incredible_."

"Thank you," Yuzu said with a shy smile, a faint blush rising in her cheeks from the praise. "I miss it, but I wanted to concentrate on school and the sorority this year."

Irritation rose in Mei's chest as she watched the exchange. All of a sudden she regretted following Siobhan out of the meeting. She suddenly remembered that her fellow sorority president was bisexual. _And newly single. And obviously thirsty._

Siobhan twirled a lock of her long auburn hair around a manicured finger. "You know, I've been thinking about putting together a little routine for a PanHellenic dance competition at Northwestern next semester." The redhead's sultry tone of voice soured Mei's stomach. "Maybe you can show me a few moves?"

Yuzu blinked. "Oh, um." The blonde glanced quickly at Mei, but she had schooled her expression into a poker face. "Okay? When do you…?"

"I'm free tonight after dinner," Siobhan purred, angling her body suggestively. "I'm staying at the Hyatt." After a beat, she added, "I have the room to myself."

An image of Yuzu lying on a hotel bed, Siobhan's long legs wrapped around her hips, barged into Mei's mind, her stomach clenching with so much force that she had to swallow down a hiss.

It was useless to pretend that what she felt wasn't jealousy. Possessiveness, even.

Mei scribbled a mental sticky note to berate herself about these ridiculous feelings later. _I can't be feeling jealous over Yuzu. She's not my girlfriend. We are strictly roommates with benefits._

"Sorry, but our chapter is meeting with several important alumna after dinner tonight. We're trying to get these VIPs to help fund the remodeling project of our house." Mei was amazed at how easily the lie rolled off her tongue. "It's kind of a big deal."

Yuzu raised her brow and a smile ghosted her lips, but she didn't comment on the blatant lie. Turning to Siobhan, she shrugged apologetically. "Some other time, maybe?"

* * *

Himeko was sleeping peacefully, dreaming about wearing a pastel Victorian dress with tons of ribbons, the absolute height of Lolita fashion. She was sashaying down a catwalk, actually it looked more like a Tokyo street, leading Puchi on a bedazzled leash. She came to _slay._ All the Harajuku boys and girls were gaping at her, they looked at her with envy in their eyes. They opened their mouths and – moaned.

Okay, that was a little weird. Usually Himeko's adoring fans just go _ooohhh_ and _ahhhh _with an occasional _kawaii_ thrown in_._

But the sounds coming from their mouths were definitely moans. Even more odd was that the moans sounded like Mei Aihara's voice.

Oh well, dreams were like that sometimes. It was always a mishmash of the things going on in her life, and Mei was one of her best friends after all. They had gone to the same all-girls private school since elementary until high school. It was a complete coincidence that Himeko chose to go to the same university that Mei did.

Anyway, she was twirling in place, her skirt ballooning up like the top of a cupcake. Heck, she looked like a cupcake. Her admirers joined hands around her in a big circle, running and skipping_. _They opened their mouths and Mei's voice came out. "Right there. That's it. Don't stop."

_Hmmm. That's definitely weird._

Mei's voice was all low and throaty. Like she was in a porn film or something. It was disconcerting, really. She didn't normally have sex dreams.

"Hrrrn. Fuck. Bite the pillow or something. You'll wake her up."

Another voice, less familiar to her, sounding suspiciously _like a_ _blond_, sliced through Himeko's dream like a lightning strike. Himeko's eyes flew open, instantly awake.

She heard a sound coming from the bed behind hers, like someone shifting around on the sheets, but trying not to be too loud about it.

_What the hell? What time is it? Where's Mei? _Questions swarmed Himeko's mind as she recalled going to bed early because she was exhausted from a full day of leadership training. Mei wasn't in their room when she turned off all the lights to go to sleep. She figured her friend was out at a bar with the rest of their sorority.

"It's fine; she's a heavy sleeper. Just—mmhph. Keep doing that." Mei's voice whispered in the dark, followed by a muffled moan.

_Did Mei just imply that I sleep like the dead? That I can sleep through someone making a bunch of suspicious noises on the bed next to me?_

As if to spite her, said bed started to creak. Mei gasped with each squeak of the metal frame.

Realization dawned on her.

Himeko scrunched her face up, fighting the urge to scream. She had heard the classic college horror stories of people getting stuck in a dorm room while their roommate had sex in the next bed, but she had never imagined she would be in that situation. She was a member of the country's most prestigious sororities, for god's sake! And this was Mei Aihara she was in a room with!

"Mmmmm Yuzu, just like that.."

_Yuzu?_

Himeko's poor sleep-addled brain couldn't decide which insane fact to grapple with first.

**_Yuzu_** was in her hotel room.

Having sex with her best friend.

In the bed right beside her.

Mei was having sex with Yuzu, whom she supposedly hated.

Mei Aihara was engaged in lesbian sex. From the way Mei was moaning, she was very into the lesbian sex she was having with Yuzu.

Himeko screwed her eyes tighter. Maybe she was still dreaming. If she was, _woooo_. These were some fucked up dreams. Like, twilight zone level dreams.

"I love hearing the sounds you make." Yuzu's quiet, hushed voice pierced through Himeko's skull and stabbed straight into the front of her brain. Himeko cursed the fact that humans didn't have the ability to turn off their hearing.

What should she do? Should she alert them to the fact that they had an unwilling audience? It would be super awkward if they realized she was awake, but was she really going to lie here and listen to Mei get railed?

"Get on your stomach," Yuzu whispered urgently. "We gotta get you off quick. Himeko will wake up if we go any longer."

Mei whimpered in response. Even though Himeko was shook, she could recognize the desperation in Mei's needy sounds. The girl was _close._ There was a flurry of movement behind her, the sound of bodies shifting under sheets.

"Lift up your ass, baby."

Himeko didn't need eyes and the light on to figure out what the two were doing.

The bedframe knocked a staccato beat against the wall, in synch with very distinct _wet_ sounds, and Mei harmonized with her muffled moans.

Himeko wished that she could actually sleep like the dead, and was never roused her slumber. Because now she was cursed with the knowledge that Mei Aihara liked to get fucked with her face down and ass up.

There was no way to _unknow _that.

A long, drawn out moan that sounded like it was being dragged from the bottom of Mei's soul signaled the brunette's orgasm. Relief flooded Himeko's veins as the active sex sounds mercifully died down. She prayed to a whole pantheon of gods that Yuzu and Mei wouldn't go for a round two. She was prepared to very loud yawn and groan if the two started up again.

Himeko heard some light smacking of lips. Sighing inwardly, she decided that with all that she suffered through, she could tolerate a little post-coital kissing. If they started on the pillow talk though, all bets were off.

With her flight or fight response no longer on overdrive, Himeko mulled her discovery of Mei's secret affair with Blondie.

She wasn't entirely shocked to find out that they were sleeping together. Himeko wasn't blind, and she watched Mei closer than anyone.

From the very beginning Mei displayed a level of animosity towards Yuzu that was _not_ normal, even for Mei. The brunette acted like she was personally affronted by Yuzu's existence, but at the same time would turn murderous whenever anyone flirted with her roommate. It was definitely one of those love/hate type of deals.

Oh yes, Himeko figured out a long time ago that Mei had some pretty conflicting feelings towards the beautiful blonde.

Now, at least Himeko didn't have to wonder whether the suffocating sexual tension in their room would drive them to have hate sex. Or whatever it was they were doing. Frenemy sex?

The sounds behind her picked up again, it was Yuzu this time making pleasured noises.

"Five minutes, that's all I need." There was a cocky undertone in Mei's voice, and Yuzu hummed in agreement. "Then you can go back to your room."

_Oh god! They're starting again!_

* * *

Sunday.

After checking out at the lobby, Harumi walked out of the hotel to wait for the chartered bus that was going to take them back to their sorority house. It was about a two-hour ride, and Harumi planned on getting some homework done during the drive. Once she got back, she planned to go to Matsuri's house and spend the night there. There was no way she would get any schoolwork done then, so it was crucial that she finished her work while on the bus.

Harumi walked up to Himeko who was by the curb waiting for the bus. The petite girl was resting her butt on top of her hard-shell carry on suitcase, dark sunglasses over her eyes, shoulders uncharacteristically slouched. She clutched an extra-large coffee in her hands. Himeko looked like she barely had any life force left in her small body.

"Good morning," Harumi greeted. "Ready to go home?"

Sipping her coffee, Himeko grunted in the affirmative.

"Yeah, me too. I'm pretty tired. These things are exhausting." Harumi was trying to empathize with the poor girl.

"Not being able to sleep at night makes it even worse," Himeko muttered grumpily. "And I'm not going to be able to fall asleep on this bus ride."

Harumi raised an eyebrow. Now she knew why Yuzu returned to their room super late last night.

She patted Himeko's shoulder. "Hang in there. Just two hours and you'll be back in your own bed."

* * *

_This is just sex. Nothing more. _The voice in Mei's head was very insistent as she grabbed the lapels of Yuzu's shirt and drew her in for a heated kiss as soon as their bedroom door closed.

_This isn't love, _Mei thought desperately as Yuzu's lips trailed from her neck to her collarbone. Yuzu continued to trace a path down her sternum, fire licking along her spine and across her chest, sending heat to pool low in her belly. The blonde's hands slid up her sides, following the flare of her hips and the curve of her waist. When Yuzu's thumbs swiped over her nipples, a plaintive whine spilled from her throat, wordlessly asking for more.

_It's not love,_ Mei asserted to herself as she felt Yuzu's tongue slide through her wet heat in that first exploratory stroke. _It's not love, it's not love, it's not love_ echoed in Mei's mind as she wrapped her thighs around Yuzu's head and came.

* * *

Not wanting to wake Yuzu, Mei gently rose from the bed.

Mei walked across their room in bare feet and turned on the lamp on her desk. She placed her Accounting textbook on the middle of the table. A couple hours of studying were ahead of her tonight.

Needing to clothe herself because she was naked, she dug around in her closet to find something comfortable to wear. She was about to put on a soft raglan sweatshirt when she changed her mind. She wanted to wear something else. Something that would be perfect.

From Yuzu's bed, Mei picked up her roommate's baby blue CTS hoodie. As she pulled the hoodie on, she inhaled Yuzu's smell. She couldn't help the smile the broke across her face. Good thing no one saw it.

_It's not love. _Mei nodded absentmindedly to herself as she sat down at her desk_. I just really like Yuzu's scent. She wears a really nice perfume._ _And this hoodie is super comfy. _She congratulated herself on navigating this whole friends-with-benefits, sex-with-no-strings-attached _thing._

Another thing done well. _I'm crushing it._

* * *

"I assume that you're not flying home for Thanksgiving break." Harumi stabbed her straw through the plastic film that sealed her milk tea. They were at their favorite boba place on High Street and she had gotten her usual taro with black boba.

"You assume correctly." Yuzu smirked. "I can't afford to fly to L.A. for just a four-day weekend. Besides, the semester ends two weeks after Thanksgiving so what would be the point of going now, when I'm gonna be flying home soon enough?"

Harumi sucked on her straw, several boba popping into her mouth. "So what are your plans for Thanksgiving? You're welcome at my Grandma's too, just so you know."

"I'm going with Mei to her house in Chicago," Yuzu replied.

"_What_?!" Matsuri exclaimed.

Harumi's response was more subdued, her tone not revealing her surprise. "Oh, really?"

Yuzu raised an eyebrow at her two friends. "Yeah, she asked me a few days ago when she found out I was just planning on staying here." A smile lit up her face. "I think it'll be great! I'm excited to see Chicago."

Harumi nodded. "Yeah, Chicago is a cool place. So you'll have Thanksgiving dinner with Mei's family?"

"Yeah, I'll meet her grandfather." A worried look crossed Yuzu's face before she admitted, "To be honest he sounds scary from the little bit Mei's told me about him. But I'm sure it'll be fine. Grandparents in general love me!" Yuzu said cheerfully as they walked out of the boba place and into the snow.

* * *

**Author Notes:**

The scene where Himeko overhears Yuzu and Mei having sex is inspired by chapter 15 of the manga, from the Kyoto school trip arc, when Yuzu barges into Mei's hotel room because she's so tore up about Sara. But then Himeko walks in and Mei has to stuff Yuzu under her bed covers and hide her. But not until Yuzu tries to make out with Mei, of course. Classic blue-balling from Sabu but I always liked that scene anyway.

Oh and yes, I am naming the chapters of this fanfic from the chapter titles of the Citrus manga. Chapter 7 is "No Love," and it's kinda interesting how it lined up with this chapter.

I wanted to publish this before Thanksgiving, but meeting a writing schedule is super hard. Oh well. I'll work on the next chapter as soon as the fall semester winds down for me. For the next chapter I want to cover Thanksgiving into New Years. We'll see if that happens, but I'm crossing my fingers!

Thoughts?


	8. The Course of Love

Warning: End of chapter is NSFW

* * *

"You ready?" Mei asked Yuzu after they both placed their bags in the trunk of the Audi.

"I'm so ready for this road trip." Yuzu held up a bag and her iPhone. "I've got snacks. I've got tunes."

Mei rolled her eyes but the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. "It's just a four-hour drive to Chicago. It's hardly a road trip."

"It is _so_ a road trip!" Yuzu insisted. "Anything longer than two hours counts as a road trip."

"Fine, fine." Mei walked over to the driver's side and opened the door. She tilted her head towards the other side of the car. "Get in the car so we can start this road trip then. Traffic is going to be terrible, especially the closer we get to the city."

A giddy feeling tickled Yuzu's stomach as she climbed into the passenger's seat. They were going on a road trip! It was just going to be the two of them in the car for four hours. They were going to talk about everything and sing along to the music she picked out. Yuzu couldn't help but smile dreamily to herself. Years from now, they'll look back at this special memory of their first trip together.

_Oh wow, I got it bad. _

She turned her head to look out the passenger side window at the landscape of rural Midwest rolling past. Endlessly flat, corn farmland as far as the eye could see. So different from the golden fields of California. She never thought she would say this when she left Orange County, but the Midwest was definitely growing on her.

_ I'm in love with Mei._

The realization made her heart race, but it didn't _scare_ her. Maybe it was because she had already spent several months in quiet turmoil over her previously antagonistic relationship with Mei. She recalled the constant fighting between them, the sexual tension that never went away, and the drunken sex that Mei denied the morning after. A feedback loop of antagonism, denial, and hate sex.

It was like she had already exhausted the negative feelings she had for Mei, and now she was just ready to accept the underlying truth.

_I am in love with Mei Aihara._

And obviously Mei felt something for her too.

_It's got to be mutual, right? I'm not the only one who caught feelings._ Mei was taking her home to meet her family for Thanksgiving, for goodness sake. You don't do that unless you're serious about a person. Sure, Mei probably won't introduce her to her family as her girlfriend, because hello, they haven't talked about that yet.

But still. This trip was a big deal. Mei was letting her into her world. They were taking a major step forward. It wouldn't be long until they would be official.

Butterflies took flight in her stomach. _Mei would be my girlfriend_.

What should she caption the Instagram post for when they become girlfriends?

"Can we stop listening to this playlist? This is the fifth Ariana Grande song," Mei complained, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Okay, okay. Just because you're the one driving us hundreds of miles." Yuzu reached for her phone and chose a different playlist on Spotify. _Don't worry, after you become my girlfriend I'll get you to appreciate the greatness that is Ari. _Yuzu smirked at her genius plans. Mei as her girlfriend was going to be so awesome. She could not wait.

They bickered a little bit more about the music but eventually Mei let Yuzu sing along to her Disney playlist, even joining in to the few songs that she knew.

After a couple of hours, Mei asked, "We'll get to the city in about an hour. What do you want to eat for lunch?

Yuzu perked up at the mention of lunch. She had consumed three packets of Skittles and a whole bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and was excited at the prospect of a real meal. "Chicago is a total foodie city, right? What do you recommend?"

Mei turned her head from the road and flashed her a fond smile before looking straight again. "Well, if you're going for the famous food that Chicago is known for, I'd say deep dish pizza."

"Cool! Let's do that."

"But we'll probably have to wait at least half an hour to get seated and then it takes another 45 minutes for the pizza to cook."

"Forget that. What else?" Yuzu asked.

"Chicago also has some world-famous steak houses."

"That also sounds like an hour-long wait."

"Pretty much any nice sit-down place will have a pretty long wait. It's the day before Thanksgiving." Mei shrugged.

Yuzu hummed thoughtfully. "I don't care about eating at a fancy place. Is there a famous Chicago food that's super quick?" She asked, expecting the answer to be no.

Surprisingly, Mei said, "I know just the place."

* * *

Lunch was indeed a famous Chicago food and super quick. Mei took them to a hot dog stand.

Piled with pickle spears, sport peppers and tomato wedges, Yuzu bit into her Chicago-style hot dog with great relish. "Mmmmm. So good."

Mei wiped her mouth with a napkin before replying, "Best in the city."

As she chewed her food, Yuzu watched Mei. The brunette managed to look striking even as she ate a hotdog on a street corner. She wore a forest green pea coat that fell a little above her knees, and her raven locks fluttered in the gust that made Chicago the _Windy City_. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and she just looked so damn pretty. She wanted to see Mei dressed for all the different seasons. Yuzu was sure she would look gorgeous in all of them. She wanted to do all the activities associated with each season with Mei.

_Yup. I am so in love with this one. She is perfect. _

"Did you come here a lot when you lived here?" Yuzu asked.

"My father took me when I was younger," Mei replied. Yuzu thought she picked up some bitterness in her tone of voice. Mei took a sip of her soda and said nothing more.

Yuzu got the urge to lean forward and kiss Mei on the cheek. She wanted to make Mei smile, but she knew doing that in public would be out of Mei's comfort zone. _Someday soon. We'll be kissing on the cheek everywhere in public. We'll keep it classy, of course. _

They finished their food and started walking back to the car. Like in any metropolitan city, parking downtown was horrendous, so they had to walk several blocks to the garage that was charging $40 an hour.

They walked in silence, keeping pace with the bustle of people on the sidewalk. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and a festive feeling was in the air. Several stores and restaurants were already decorated for Christmas.

It began to snow. Fat snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and even though this part of Chicago wasn't exactly ritzy, it all felt magical.

Romantic.

Yuzu swallowed, gathering up her courage. _I can do this. It's not weird. It's the perfect moment. Mei won't reject you. _

She reached for Mei's hand and laced their fingers together.

Holding hands with Mei for the first time was like jumping off a cliff, but also like coming home. It was exciting. Thrilling. Like a door being thrown wide open for all the possibilities. _We belong together. _

Mei didn't falter or break her stride when she reached out to hold her hand, but Yuzu was sure the brunette had to be at least a _little_ surprised. This was the very first time that they had any kind of public display of affection. No one back at school knew about them except for Harumi and Matsuri. They had been very careful to always be discreet, even though they had been banging like crazy the last couple of weeks.

But out here, in a busy city hundreds of miles away from their university and sorority, where no one knew them, Yuzu felt emboldened to walk hand in hand with Mei.

She squeezed Mei's hand gently, and Mei squeezed back. They were young and in love. She was meeting Mei's family for Thanksgiving. They were walking hand in hand in a cool city as it snowed. It was like a holiday romantic movie from the Hallmark channel. Yuzu felt like she was on top of the world.

Yuzu glanced at a store window, and her face lit up in glee.

* * *

Mei's brain was still trying to process the fact that she and Yuzu were holding hands in public that it took her a moment to realize why Yuzu had stopped walking.

"You want to go into a sex store?!" Mei whisper-shouted. She frantically looked around, gripped with the irrational fear that someone she knew would suddenly pop out and catch her in front of a store of ill repute with a woman she was having sex with.

Before she could spin out in a panic, Yuzu simply arched an eyebrow and said, "Yup."

"But why?!" she hissed. Her eyes kept darting up and down the street, horrified that someone she knew would walk up to her. Like her Calculus professor. Or the dean of the Business College. Or one of her sorority sisters in this year's pledge class.

"Because I want to." Yuzu rolled her eyes at good naturedly. "I haven't been to one in a while."

"What, you need to restock?" Mei said, completely flustered now. "On some battery operated items?" She managed to grit out.

"They're called vibrators, Mei."

"Shhhhh!" She felt like she was being Punk'd. Her face was on fire.

Yuzu nudged her gently on the shoulder, and she had that soft expression on her face that always made Mei melt.

"Come on, Mei. It'll be fun," Yuzu urged softly. "We don't have to go in if it really makes you uncomfortable, but it's not a crime to look at some toys. This is also a really good company to support; unlike a lot of mainstream sex stores they're woman-friendly and sex-positive."

The puppy dog eyes plus the earnest little smile is what did her in. "Fine," Mei sighed.

Yuzu's mouth stretched into a wide smile and she tugged her towards the door of the store.

Mei couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She knew what sex toys were obviously, but she had never bought one, much less walk into a sex shop in broad daylight. Once they walked through the store, she dropped Yuzu's hand. She wasn't about to walk into a sex store holding hands with her female lover. That was just weird. And even if it wasn't weird, she just wasn't ready for that.

Thankfully, the store wasn't dark and seedy like she had expected it to be. She had seen a few photos online of a few sex stores, and they all looked like a cross between a kitschy bordello and an overstuffed dollar store.

This particular store was bright and had minimalist furniture. The products were displayed on rows of long stainless-steel tables with clean lines. If the color palette had been space gray and off white, this could have been the Apple Store of sex toys.

Having calmed down considerably, she simply trailed Yuzu around the store as the blonde idly browsed. She didn't really want to stare too hard at any one thing though, lest the other people in the store think she was actually shopping for one of the objects on sale.

Yuzu cleared her throat.

Mei turned towards her. Yuzu was standing in front of a wall display. It was clear that Yuzu wanted to talk about the objects on the wall. Sighing internally, she decided to play along. "And what are those for?"

It was a rhetorical question. She had a good idea what they were. It wasn't hard to figure out what the belts were supposed to wrap around and what was supposed to be attached by the buckles.

"Strap-on harnesses," Yuzu replied with a smirk. The dark, sexy smirk. Mei wasn't sure if Yuzu knew that particular smirk was sexy, but the blonde certainly used it a lot whenever she was trying to convince Mei to fool around. It never failed; it worked every time. Clearly Mei was weak to this smirk.

"Ah," she acknowledged with a short nod.

Yuzu gestured to one of the long tables in the middle of the store, displaying phallus-shaped items made of silicone in an array of colors. They all had a flared base. "You slip one of those guys into one of these." She jabbed a thumb towards a harness on the wall.

"I see." Mei crossed her arms, waiting for Yuzu to launch into her sales pitch. She was prepared to hear her proposal as a matter of principle. She was going to be in business, after all. But she was going to say no, obviously.

* * *

Mei walked hurriedly out of the store, not wanting to be seen with a _purchase _as she exited a sex shop. Well technically Yuzu was the one holding the shopping bag. And thankfully it was a plain brown paper bag, and didn't have the store's logo.

As she power-walked down the street, she heard Yuzu giggle behind her. She shot the blonde a glare as she slowed down when they were far enough from the store.

_I can't believe we just walked in there and bought a strap-on._

It was insane.

Being with Yuzu was making her do crazy things. Obviously.

But she knew exactly what caused her to agree with Yuzu's proposal. After firmly being told no, Yuzu said, "Aww c'mon Mei, aren't you even a little curious about this? Let's just try it for tiny bit and if you absolutely hate it we'll stop."

Before Mei could retort _what does 'try it for a tiny bit' even mean? Just the tip? _Yuzu said with another smirk, "But I've been told that my strap game is strong."

Mei felt her spine go rigid and her eyebrows pinch together.

_She's been told that her strap game is strong? By who? _A burning comet of anger shot to her throat as she imagined faceless women who had been fucked by Yuzu with a strap on. Was Yuzu taunting her with the fact that she wasn't the first woman to get her strap?

Mei felt like grabbing one of the dildos on a display table and smacking Yuzu across the cheek with it. Not super hard or anything. She wasn't violet. But it would be satisfying to see Yuzu's shocked face from being smacked with a silicone dick.

"All right, let's get it."

Yuzu's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Did I stutter?" Mei snapped.

"No ma'am!" Yuzu grinned. She gestured to the display table in the middle of the room and said, "Do you have a preference on the color?"

* * *

Yuzu gawked when the entrance gates slid open to reveal an English manor at the end of a long tree-lined driveway.

"You live in a freaking mansion," Yuzu said as Mei drove into a 5-car garage beside the house.

"It's my grandfather's house," Mei dismissed with a shrug. Yuzu didn't know what that was supposed to mean. The house was still a mansion. She knew Mei came from money, but she didn't know it was _Crazy Rich Asians._

Mei threw the car into park beside a Bentley town car. "Come on. I don't know about you, but I'd love a shower and a nap after all that driving."

They took their bags from the trunk and Mei led her into the house.

"So where's everybody?" Yuzu asked as she followed Mei up a winding grand staircase to the second floor.

"My grandfather is at his office downtown, I'm sure. He'll probably come home pretty late tonight, so you'll meet him tomorrow." Mei led her down a hallway with several doors. "And my father is flying home from a business trip in Tokyo. His flight comes in at O'Hare tomorrow at 10am."

Mei opened the door to a bedroom. "This is your room."

"Oh," Yuzu said, a little surprised. She had thought that she would be sleeping in Mei's bedroom while she was visiting her house. Of course, that was before she found out Mei's house was a literal mansion. _Rich people have multiple guest rooms, duh. _

In the middle of the room was a wooden king-size sleigh bed. A leather sofa and two wingback chairs sat in the afternoon sun streaming through French doors that led out into a small balcony. The room was three times as big as their room in the sorority house.

She placed her bag on the upholstered bench on the foot of the bed and turned to Mei. "Where's your room?"

Mei gestured with her right hand towards the hallway. "Two doors down."

"Okay." A wide grin split her face.

* * *

They spent the rest of the day relaxing and decompressing from their road trip. Yuzu met two of the housekeepers, one of whom had worked for the Aihara family since Mei was a young child. Yuzu chatted up the kindly old lady about Mei, trying to find out more about her intensely private roommate.

It was about an hour after they ate dinner and went to their respective rooms that Mei heard a knock. She got up from her bed and opened the door.

"Hi." Yuzu was leaning against the jamb, one hand behind her. "Can I come in?"

Mei wanted to look neutral but she couldn't help the mischievous smile that pulled at her lips. "Why?"

"Oh I don't know," Yuzu drawled, twirling a lock of blonde hair around her finger. She gave Mei some intense bedroom eyes. "I feel lonely in that big room all alone. I'm used to having my roommate around."

"I see." Mei pursed her lips, pretending to consider her next statement. "I suppose I could keep you company. You should be thankful I'm so nice."

Yuzu arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. She made a big show of letting her smoldering gaze travel up and down Mei's form. The desire on Yuzu's face sent heat to rush through her veins, fire licking across her exposed skin, raising a goosebumps. "I'm thankful all right. In return I'm also going to be really good to you," Yuzu purred.

Mei's face scrunched up like she couldn't decide whether to wince or grin like a fool at Yuzu's sexual banter. But her roommate looked so damn gorgeous and desirable leaning against her bedroom door, and they hadn't had any contact all day, and Mei was honestly itching to get her hands on Yuzu. So she reached out with both hands, and pulled Yuzu through the doorway.

Yuzu closed the door behind her with her foot. Mei was still clutching the front of her shirt, and they stood facing each other, their mouths inches from each other. They lingered like that for a few moments, playing with the pull of their bodies that called out to each other.

Mei was the one to give in first, leaning forward and pressing her lips against her roommate, her eyes slipping closed. Yuzu's lips were as soft as ever, and Mei ran her tongue against a plump lower lip, asking for entrance. Yuzu made a soft sound in the back of her throat when she opened her mouth to accept Mei's tongue.

As their kiss deepened, it troubled Mei how much she missed Yuzu's lips and body against hers after only a day. She had never craved another person like this before. The thought filled Mei with equal parts wonder and alarm.

_But it's fine. I'm just having some amazing sex. Living my best life. She_ was in college, and this was exactly the time to experiment sexually. This was the time to have all the freaky sex with a bunch of different people. After she graduated, it was all going to change. She knew what was in store for her, so really, she should take advantage of these precious remaining few months of freedom.

Sure, she had absolutely no interest in exploring her sexuality with anyone other than Yuzu. _But it's fine. Because I really like Yuzu, and the sex is amazing. _

_Sex doesn't have to mean anything. _

Yuzu dropped the paper bag she held behind her back onto the floor then started to make quick work of the buttons on Mei's pajama top. Once it was unbuttoned, Yuzu pulled on the two halves of the pajama shirt and Mei lowered her arms to allow it to fall to the floor.

Mei found herself topless lying on her back on her bed, and she stared at her ceiling for a second before she felt Yuzu crawling over her body. A heated make-out commenced, with Yuzu balancing her weight on her forearms bracketing Mei's head.

Mei loved Yuzu's kisses. She simply couldn't get enough of her flavor, and the taste of the blonde on her tongue was slowly submerging her in pleasure. It took a little while for her to realize that she was subtly grinding her crotch against Yuzu's pelvis. A little wave of embarrassment came over her but it was soon silenced when Yuzu's thigh pressed against her aching core, and she moaned in the blonde's mouth.

Yuzu relinquished her mouth and started kissing down her body. Mei knew what was coming, and it sent a shivering curl of need through her belly. Arousal pooled in her panties as she anticipated her roommate's very talented tongue.

Eager fingers grasped at her pajama pants, and Mei lifted her hips to assist in tugging off her remaining clothing.

Sitting back on her heels, Yuzu grinned wickedly at the wet spot on the crotch of Mei's panties. She stroked her thumb over the dampness, teasing the clothed bump of Mei's clit. "Someone's eager, I see. Have you been thinking about me touching you all day?"

A denial was sitting on the tip of Mei's tongue, mostly from a sense of propriety that she found hard to shake off. It felt embarrassing to admit to Yuzu that by the end of the day of no touching, she was indeed quite needy for her touch, hell, for her _anything._ But she would be fooling no one if she actually answered no to Yuzu's question, given the fact that she was dripping arousal from her pussy. You know? A small whimper was all that escaped Mei's mouth instead as her hips canted towards Yuzu's teasing thumb, desperate for more friction.

Both of them were mildly surprised when Mei tugged her own panties down. She was done waiting, and she just wanted Yuzu's mouth on her, _now_.

A breath hitched in Yuzu's chest when Mei was suddenly bare right in front of her face. No lie, she was hungry for it. Resisting the urge to just dive in like she just rolled up at a buffet at a 3-star Michelin restaurant, she paced herself by slowly nibbling the inside of Mei's thighs, knowing it drove the dark-haired woman crazy being teased like that. Just as she expected, fingers tangled into her hair, impatiently tugging her closer to her throbbing cunt.

Yuzu finally acquiesced, first inhaling Mei's heady, intoxicating scent before laying a broad lick up her dripping slit. A moan was torn from her sorority sister's throat as her tongue slipped between silken folds, lapping at the wetness found there. Her tongue slipped lower to gently tease around the entrance, and she hummed in delight when more of Mei's arousal coated her tongue.

_God, her mouth. Her tongue._ Mei's eyes slipped shut as tension coiled in the pit of her belly, sending pulses of white hot pleasure to radiate up her spine in jagged bursts. She felt a momentary wave of sadness when she thought about how she would miss Yuzu's talented tongue one day in the future when a hot mouth closed around her clit. Her toes curled as Yuzu sucked hard on the sensitive bundle of nerves, flicking the tip of her tongue against the hood.

Having Yuzu's head between her legs while she was lying in the bed of at her grandfather's house was such a naughty thrill that it fast-tracked her impending orgasm, and Mei felt herself getting close to her peak much faster than usual. A keening moan fell from her lips as she tightened her grip around blond locks hair and gently rocked her hips, sliding her wet folds up and down Yuzu's mouth, eager for her first orgasm of the night.

However, it soon became apparent to Mei that Yuzu was keeping her on the razor's edge, and the blonde wasn't doing that _thing_ that would make her climax. And that _thing_ was penetrate her. Frustration pressed against Mei's lust-addled brain, and she made a unhappy sound from the back of her throat. Mei was pretty sure Yuzu knew that the sure-fire way to get her to cum was to fuck her pussy with two fingers while sucking on her clit.

So why wasn't Yuzu doing that now? _Is she trying to do some edge play or something? _

Mei's brow furrowed at the thought. She was open to new things in the bedroom and being spontaneous with Yuzu, but deciding to try out edging in the middle of cunnilingus with no prior warning or discussion was hardly appropriate. With a huff, she grit out, "What are you doing?" She wanted to add _do you want to die? _

Yuzu responded by raising herself up on her hands. Her chin glistened with wetness, and a pink tongue peeked out and slowly licked over her bottom lip, showing her sorority sister how much she liked tasting her flavor. A devilish smirk curled her mouth as two fingers teased around Mei's entrance. "What's wrong? Is there anything you need?"

A frustrated groan erupted from Mei's throat, her hands fisting the sheets. "Inside. You know I want you inside." She could hardly believe that she was uttering these filthy things out loud, but she was pent up and horny, dammit. Mei wanted to Yuzu to slip fingers inside her, filling up the burgeoning ache she felt between her legs, and she wanted to squeeze around them when she came. Mei shivered at the delicious thought.

"Mmmmm." Yuzu moved down and slipped off the bed. "It's time for this guy then."

Crimson stained Mei's cheeks as she watched the blonde pick up the paper bag and rummage through the contents. Mei averted her eyes from Yuzu as she stepped into the harness, but she could still plainly hear the blonde strapping it on.

Unfortunately, the etiquette for strap-on preparation wasn't something she had ever learned. The subject wasn't exactly covered during sex ed in grammar school. Was she supposed to _watch_ Yuzu strap up? Was she supposed to help her with the buckles and things?

Those questions were interrupted by Yuzu moving into her line of sight. Mei swallowed the hard lump in her throat.

There, jutting out proudly from Yuzu's lower pelvis, was the royal blue dildo that she picked out from the lineup of dicks displayed at the store earlier.

It looked _obscene. _

But she couldn't look away the rigid toy bobbing cheerfully between her roommate's legs, getting closer and closer to the apex of her thighs.

Mei watched as Yuzu wrap her hand around the base of the aforementioned toy, and her core clenched in anticipation. She couldn't even pretend that she didn't want Yuzu to bury that thing inside her because she dripping arousal, wetness smearing the inside of her thighs.

_Jesus. I've turned into a sex fiend. How did this happen?_

The length grasped in her right hand, Yuzu shuffled forward on her knees between Mei's thighs, aiming for the soaked entrance.

As the broad tip of the rigid toy approached, Mei walked towards her own precipice. She was really going to do this. There was no turning back now. No more denial about what she truly wanted, in this moment. Her sorority sister and roommate Yuzu Okogi was going to give her the strap, and she was here for it.

So she might was well get fucked the way she wanted.

"I don't want to be on my back." Mei pressed her palm on Yuzu's chest, stopping the blonde from getting on top of her. She'd slept with the opposite sex before; forgettable, mundane events. Each one was in missionary, and she never had an orgasm from it. This time needed to be different. This time, she wanted to be on top.

The bold statement pierced through Yuzu, momentarily disarming her. Her mouth hung slightly open for a few moments before she scrambled to sit against the headboard of the bed.

Mei swung her thighs over Yuzu's lap to straddle her. Reaching down to wrap her fist around the dildo, she gave the length several firm pumps, pressing down on the bundle of nerves underneath the base of the toy. Mei drank in the resultant moan that spilled from Yuzu's throat.

Wide green eyes drank in the blushing pinks of Mei's pussy, delicate petals hovering over the toy jutting out from between Yuzu's legs. The sight sent a bolt of arousal sailing to Yuzu's core, and the sensation was so electric that she barely managed to suppress the urge to buck her hips up and spear the blue length inside Mei. Even in her lust-addled daze, Yuzu knew well enough that Mei would probably claw her eyes out if she jumped ahead.

Yuzu gently put her hands on Mei's waist. "You ready babe?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Yeah I had planned to post this in early December 2019, but it turns out it's really hard to write when go abroad for the holidays. I was able to write most of this chapter on the 13-hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo, but after that it all went downhill from there, lol.

I feel kinda bad about cutting this chapter here. But the good news is, I've already written the next 4 thousand words, and will drop that chapter as soon as I find the energy to edit!

Thank you my dudes and as usual let me know if you have thoughts.


	9. winter of love

"You ready babe?"

By way of an answer, Mei slowly lowered herself by parting her knees. A gasp fell from her lips as the broad head of the toy breached her entrance. The first inch slipped into her like a hot knife through butter, because she was simply that wet.

Her eyelids fluttered closed as she sank lower on the shaft. She could feel the toy parting her tight walls, sending waves of pleasure through her nerves.

A couple more inches and Mei had to pause her descent. She was already clenching around the dildo, wrapping the toy in her wet heat. She laid her hands on Yuzu's shoulders for balance, and Yuzu in turn rubbed soothing circles against her hipbones with her thumbs. For a fleeting second Mei wished that Yuzu would just grab her hips and push her down on the last inches, force her to just _take it. _

Seeing Mei hesitation on how to go farther, Yuzu decided to help her out. Leaning forward, she drew an inviting nipple into her mouth and swirled her tongue around the nub. A pleasured whine and nails digging into her shoulder was Yuzu's reward.

The delicious sensation of Yuzu mouthing against her breast was enough to nudge her downward towards the home stretch. Before long, Mei was completely sitting on Yuzu's strap, dangerously close to cumming. She felt so full. And it felt so good. And at the very root of it all was Yuzu.

It felt like Yuzu was everywhere, all around her, inside her, overwhelming her.

A few deep breaths helped calm the potent cocktail of desire and arousal that was brewing inside her, aided by Yuzu's soothing hands running up and down her sides. "You feel so good inside me," Mei whispered to the blonde in a breathy voice.

That broke Yuzu's restraint. With a desperate moan, she bucked her hips, pushing her strap deep inside Mei. The mental chains snapped, and Yuzu came charging out the gate. The thrusting of her hips was instinctual and almost frantic. Pressure was building in her core, urging her to create more friction between their bodies. Because that's what would feel good, that's what Mei wanted, and what Yuzu wanted to give it her.

The hands on Yuzu's shoulders pushed her back against the headboard, hard. It successfully broke the spell that turned her into the energizer bunny, humping against the elegant woman on top of her like she lost her damn mind.

Mei stared down at her through lowered lashes. She would probably look more reproachful if

there wasn't a deep red flush staining her chest all the way to her cheeks, and if her eyes weren't glazed over with lust. "I don't want to be jackhammered, Yuzu. You're getting too excited," she said sternly.

_Damn. _Yuzu nodded and bit her lip hard. _Scolded for humping uncontrollably like a teenage boy with no finesse. _

Mei's voice turned low and throaty when she shared what she wanted. "This is going to be a slow ride, okay?" She punctuated the statement with a slow, sensuous roll of her hips.

Yuzu groaned helplessly at the provocative display.

"Sit back and enjoy it," Mei purred.

Yuzu felt like her soul was going to detach from her body and float away. _Is this how people reach Nirvana?_

Mei wanted to start nice and easy. She eased herself about halfway off the length, and then slowly sank back down, pausing at the bottom when she sat herself back down on Yuzu's lap. _Much better._

She raised her hips only slightly faster on the next pass, enjoying the way the toy rubbed against her walls. Her descent was still controlled, but also slightly faster than the previous.

_Oh yes._ Mei definitely liked being on top. Using her knees for leverage, she rose up higher this time, and then rolling her hips into the descent. Her thigh muscles flexed as she rode the strap nice and slow.

"I love watching you, baby," Yuzu whispered reverently, staring intently at the bliss and pleasure flickering over Mei's face as she bounced on her lap.

Yuzu's praise was more fuel to the fire that was building in her belly. Liquid pleasure was burning through her veins, and she wanted _more. _More friction, harder, more of Yuzu inside her. She was ready to speed up the ride. It was time to take the pony from a trot and lead it into a gallop, so to speak.

Mei grasped the back of Yuzu's neck and stared into her eyes. "Fuck me."

_Oh my god. _Yuzu was afraid she might pass out from being too aroused. If anyone had told her when she moved into the Chi Theta Sigma house at the beginning of the semester that one day sorority president Mei Aihara would be sitting on her strap and asking to be fucked, she would have died laughing and told them they were crazy.

_But here we are. The most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on is asking me to take her to Poundtown. _

_My body is ready._

Yuzu rocked her hips forward, pushing the dildo all the way in.

Mei gasped when their centers met, the sensation of being filled completely sending starbursts of pain and pleasure to coalesce in her belly.

Yuzu started out slow, her breath coming out in impatient huffs. But she couldn't maintain it for long, not with the way Mei was grinding down on the toy, causing the base of the dildo to press hard on her clit each time she thrust. Yuzu tightened her hold on Mei's hips and started pounding into the brunette in earnest.

Mei mewled at the possessive way Yuzu held her hips down, anchoring her in place for her rapid thrusts. Her spine arched and she bounced on Yuzu's lap as she fought to keep pace. Each thrust sent shockwaves of pleasure to radiate from her belly, heat crawling up her chest and shooting down her legs.

She felt Yuzu's hand release her hip and drift towards her pelvis, fingers slipping into her sodden folds. The blonde found her clit, and she gently pinched the swollen nub between her thumb and forefinger. It made her see stars.

Then Yuzu's thumb started stroking her off, rolling her clit in tight circles, in time with the rocking of her hips. Her head fell against Yuzu's chest with a whimper. She almost couldn't handle the wave of pleasure that was thundering through her body from the dual sensations. Yuzu playing with her sensitive clit, stroking her with confidence and precision, coupled with the hard, possessive thrusting. It felt so good, being taken like this.

Mei was jockeying towards the finish line at breakneck speed. She tightened her grip on the reins, her nails digging into the flesh of Yuzu's shoulder. "I'm close, I'm so close, Yuzu."

Through gritted teeth, Yuzu replied, "Me too."

With a strangled cry, her walls spasmed around Yuzu's hard length. Her whole body quaked in orgasm, fire sweeping across her senses.

The last thing Mei was conscious of was Yuzu guiding her onto the mattress as a haze blanketed her mind.

* * *

They didn't end their night after one round. When Mei came to, they explored the different 'configurations' they could enjoy with their newly purchased toy.

Mei on her back, her legs wrapped around the Yuzu's hips, drilling into her. Mei orgasmed easily despite her misgivings about the missionary position. Maybe it was the way Yuzu whispered filthy things in her ear as she gave her the strap, holding her down with her weight.

_Reverse cowgirl, _Yuzu suggested, _if you're game for it? _

_Am_ I game? Mei was lying on her back, still a little out of breath. She was about to gently say _no babe I think I'm down for the count, I kind of can't feel my legs. _They had already fucked twice, for god's sake. She didn't have the energy to try something as ambitious as reverse cowgirl right now. But she took a moment to check in with her body, her eyes darting towards Yuzu, the strap sitting up proudly on her pelvis.

And what do you know, Mei's horse giddy-upped.

Reverse cowgirl it was.

The recovery time after that orgasm was noticeably longer than the two previous ones. "Last one," Mei groaned as Yuzu sucked kisses on her collarbone, enflaming her senses once again. "I'm serious. Last. One."

"Okay," Yuzu whispered and coaxed Mei to get on her hands and knees.

As she sat on all fours in the middle of the bed, a fount of jealousy bubbled up in her chest. The way Yuzu moved her body to get into the position was too smooth. It felt practiced, like it was out of habit. She bristled at the thought of some other woman bent over in front of Yuzu.

Her competitive streak was activated as Yuzu knelt behind her and lined up the dildo against her entrance. She was determined to be just as good as this faceless woman that Yuzu may or may not have banged in the past. She was going to take Yuzu's strap like a pro.

Mei parted her knees wider and rocked her hips back, hilting the strap-on inside her.

"You look so good like this," Yuzu praised breathlessly. "So good."

Before Mei could even formulate a reply, Yuzus' hips drew back slightly and then drove forward. Her mouth fell open, but no words came out. Yuzu was starting with long, slow strokes, but with this position, the dildo was reaching so much _deeper_ inside her.

Yuzu was giving it to her deeply, and soon, faster and harder. Pornographic, high-pitched cries were spilling from her throat, in synch with each snap of Yuzu's hips against her backside. Being on hands and knees also angled the dildo to line up towards her g-spot, and shivers shook Mei's spine each time the blunt head grazed the sweet spot.

"Do you like it like this?"

Mei barely heard the question through the fog of arousal in her mind and the slapping of their bodies. Her arms buckled when Yuzu gave a particularly hard thrust, her head falling against the mattress.

"Y-yes. You're so deep. I love it…" Mei's whimpered into the sheets. She didn't want to lift her head back up. It felt even better this way, honestly. Propping her ass higher into the air, she mewled to indicate that she wanted Yuzu to continue.

A hand stroked up her back, tracing the submissive arch of her spine. Yuzu's tireless hips pounded into her relentlessly. Every slam of the dildo drove the air out of her lungs. The bed was beating a staccato rhythm against the wall, in time with her heartbeat. With each passing second, the pressure in her lower belly was mounting higher and higher.

"Touch yourself."

The timber of Yuzu's voice sent Mei's hand to fly blindly between her legs. The instant her fingers made contact with her drenched pussy she knew it was going to be quick. She stroked up and down her slit, bumping deliciously against her needy clit. Each inelegant stroke sent electric joy singing in her veins, encouraging her fingers to move faster as she chased her orgasm.

"I want you to cum for me, baby."

And all Mei could do was scream her pleasure into the rumpled sheets and obey.

* * *

"I think I threw my back out." Yuzu winced theatrically as she stretched her spine. The sheets were pooled around her waist.

Propping herself up on an elbow, Mei admired Yuzu's naked torso before she retorted teasingly, "What's the matter? Out of shape?"

Yuzu scoffed. "I'm in excellent shape. I can go for an hour and half on the treadmill!" she boasted.

With her chin cupped in the palm of her hand, Mei smiled at Yuzu like a lazy cat. "You might need to stretch more then. Don't stop going to yoga."

"Oh, that's it. I'm gonna get you," Yuzu mock-growled and lunged at her, playfully biting her bicep.

Mei laughed and wiggled away. When Yuzu settled down on the bed, she scooted to her side and wrapped an arm around the blonde's midsection and tucked her head into a smooth shoulder.

Yuzu hummed in contentment and started stroking her back.

Usually, after sex Mei would cuddle Yuzu in her arms. Maybe it was being on the receiving end of the strap, or the fact that she was just railed ten ways to Sunday, but Mei was feeling particularly _subby_.

_Holy shit. I for real had strap-on sex with a woman. And I have never orgasmed so hard and so many times in one night._

_Am I lesbian?_

Whoa, what a loaded question. Labels are for jars anyway. There was no mental energy to grapple with that soul-searching question tonight.

One thing was clear, though. She could no longer tell herself that she was just taking this lesbian sex thing for a test drive.

Tonight, she had slammed on the gas and gone off-road.

But back to why she was being Yuzu's snugglebug.

Honestly, even without the post-coital hormones, she just really liked being close to Yuzu. She wanted to be as close as possible to her roommate, to feel her warmth, to feel her solid frame against her. She liked hearing Yuzu's voice and being the reason for smile.

She liked sharing a bed with Yuzu at night. Falling asleep and sleep in general was so much better when she was curled up beside her sexy, gorgeous, kind, funny, amazing roommate. Seriously, best sleep of her life.

The intimacy between them was kind of intense. But it felt so natural.

It was crazy, considering the fact that she couldn't stand the blonde when they first met. She was super close to making a room switch after the first month. But now? It made her a little sad to think about graduating next semester because that would mean not being able to Yuzu everyday anymore.

_Wow. Really? You're going to graduate with top honors and start working at a major investment management company, and you're feeling sad about leaving behind your sorority sister that you've only known for a semester?_

It seemed illogical and out of character for her, but the melancholy that sat heavy in her chest told her it was true. She was going to miss Yuzu.

But who _wouldn't_ miss a person who was basically a cross between a literal ray of sunshine and the human equivalent of a golden retriever?

"Yuzu," she said idly, absentmindedly scratching at the blonde's toned stomach. "What are your plans after graduation?"

"Well," Yuzu said with her lips against her forehead. "I'm planning to go to Brazil to help with the rehabilitation efforts in the Amazon. So much of the rainforest was burned, and I just can't _not _try to help even just a little bit, you know? That's like, the majority of the earth's air supply right there."

"For how long?"

"I'm thinking 4 months. After that I might also go to Ecuador to volunteer for 6 weeks, we'll see. I'm still contacting the NGO I'll be working with. If that doesn't pan out, I'll probably go backpacking in Peru with my friends Sara and Nina."

_Who is Sara and Nina? _A pang went through Mei's chest as she imagined Yuzu travelling all over South America with her friends, going on adventures and making memories. _I bet that would be super fun. _

"…then of course I'll come back and start looking for a job. Hopefully one that will cover rent and let me start paying off my student loans," Yuzu chuckled wryly.

Mei nuzzled deeper against Yuzu's chest as she listened to her roommate's rambling plans for the future. It meandered to tangentially related topics like growing up with a busy single mom in California, college life in UCLA, and the friends she made in the cheer team and in the sorority.

Yuzu's voice soothed her, and she also found herself genuinely wanting to know more about the blonde. She really liked how being around Yuzu made her feel. Warm and safe, and just all around good. Yuzu made her feel good about herself. Yuzu was just too pure for this world, and if she could see good in her, then it hard to be at least a little true, right?

She never had a friend like Yuzu before.

_Because that's what we are, right? We're just really good friends. _

She suddenly noticed that while Yuzu was still talking, the blonde's hand had slipped down to palm her breast, idly playing with her nipple. It was already stiff.

_Friends with really great benefits. _

She slowly tipped her head up to seek Yuzu's mouth, already craving a kiss.

_I want to keep her as long as possible._

* * *

The Thanksgiving dinner with Mei's family the next day did not turn out the way Yuzu had hoped. Sure, she had some reservations about meeting Mei's grandfather and father, but she didn't think it would completely _suck. _

It completely sucked.

It all started that morning when Mei received a message from her dad that he didn't make his flight to Chicago because he had to deal with a last-minute business 'emergency' in Tokyo. He wasn't going to make it to Thanksgiving. A dark cloud settled over Mei's mood after she received the message but shrugged off Yuzu's attempt to comfort her with a tight, "I'm fine. Not a big deal."

So it was just her, Mei, and Mei's grandfather sitting down for the Thanksgiving meal.

When Mei introduced them, the Aihara patriarch looked her up and down and seemed to be visibly displeased with her attire. Sure, maybe she should have erred on the more conservative side.

_But Mei loves this outfit on me. She can't keep her eyes off me when I wear it._

Mental sticky note for next time: don't dress in your sexiest clothes when meeting your future girlfriend's family for the first time.

_Got it._

"And what are you majoring in, Yuzu?" Mr. Aihara asked as he let go of their handshake.

"Earth and Environmental Science," she replied with a wide smile.

Mr. Aihara raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her. "And what do you plan to do with that degree?"

"I want to go into environmental policy. My ideal job would be to work for a non-profit lobbying for conservation and sustainability efforts."

The man rolled his eyes and turned away from her, muttering '_another bleeding-heart liberal'_ under his breath.

_Wow. Rude. I guess his millions can't buy some basic manners._

Mr. Aihara kind of just ignored her after that. Lunch was served at the formal dining room with two of the housing staff. She simply kept quiet as the old man interrogated Mei about her academics, extra-curriculars, and most importantly, her internship.

During one point where Mei's grandfather seemed to be particularly unimpressed by Mei's efforts, Yuzu couldn't help but cut in. "But besides all that, Mei is super popular in Greek life on campus! All the pledges we had this year pretty much wanted to join because they look up to Mei or is in love with her. In fact, I think most of the sisters in Chi Theta Sigma is in love with her." Yuzu glanced at Mei with a wide smile and a cheeky wink. "It's not hard to see why."

Eyes wide, Mei stared at her with a horrified expression.

"What's this?" The old man turned to Mei a frown. "Your sisters are in love with you? Is that what happens in sororities? Lesbian activity?"

"No, no, of course not. Yuzu was just joking. Most people think I'm a snob and unapproachable," Mei said hastily.

"That's not true!" Yuzu sat up straighter in her chair.

"Absolutely no lesbian activity whatsoever." Mei shook her head. "None."

Mr. Aihara was full-on scowling now. "We allowed you to join this women's group because you insisted that the connections you would get from it would benefit you greatly when you inherit the company. You weren't supposed to be wasting your time and energy on entertaining college girls going through a phase."

_Okay, Boomer._ Yuzu crossed her arms and scoffed. "You _allowed_ her to join the sorority? What is she, your property or something? She can make her own decisions."

She wasn't sure why she was getting so worked up. Arguing with the old man while they sat at his dinner table probably wasn't the best idea, but Yuzu couldn't bear his attitude towards her roommate anymore.

"On top of going to school for a worthless degree, you're also one of those girls who lack respect for their elders." He glared at her before turning his attention back to Mei. "And she's your roommate, Mei? I hate to think what kind of influence she has on you. What happened to your old roommate? What was her name, Emma? Now she seemed like a nice girl, good head on her shoulders," he sneered.

Yuzu could feel heat rise to her head, and a cutting retort was chambered and ready to fire from her lips. But Mei's panicked, pleading expression kept her from pulling the trigger.

The words were swallowed up in her throat, and her shoulders sagged in defeat.

_This is Mei's grandfather. I'm in love with her, and I can't burn this bridge. Someday, he might also become my family._

So she kept silent as Mei stuttered apologies about her behavior. The old man seemed mollified and thankfully he went back to ignoring her presence after that.

The rest of the dinner was spent picking on the food on her plate and just tuning out the strained conversation between Mei and her grandfather.

Until Mr. Aihara mentioned Mei's _fiancé. _

"Your _what_?" Yuzu shrilled, high and loud.

* * *

"Yuzu, for the millionth time, I'm sorry! I didn't realize that grandfather would be so unpleasant and disagreeable." Mei's hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles were turning white. "I should have known better. I feel so bad."

"Your grandfather being a condescending rude-ass misogynist isn't your fault," Yuzu grumbled towards the passenger side window. The interstate highway sped by, looking like a frozen concrete tundra.

There was a heavy sigh from the driver's side. "Okay…then what's wrong? Because you're mad about _something._ You've been giving me the silent treatment since we had lunch with him."

Yuzu crossed her arms and huffed. Can't Mei just leave her alone right now? She needed some time to _think._ To wrap her mind around the fact that Mei was apparently engaged. To a man. For some sort of business merger between their families. _Like what? Who even does that anymore? How long has she known about this? Does she even love him? And what about—_

"Just tell me what's wrong so I can fix it!"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that you were engaged to a man!" She didn't mean to actually verbalize it, but there was a buzzing in her head, her thoughts swarming like thousands of angry hornets, and the biggest, baddest one just slipped out.

Mei sucked in a breath and paused as if momentarily confused. "What? You're mad about that? That's what this is about?"

The glare that met her question said it all. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Mei said, "I didn't tell you about my engagement because I don't particularly like to think about that, for one. And second, why should I have?"

Yuzu's gut twisted. "You didn't think I deserved to know?"

"I don't understand," Mei whined. "Why do you 'deserve' to know? The fact that I'm being used to broker a deal between the Udagawa Corporation isn't exactly something I like to share with people. Why does it matter?"

The bitterness in Mei's words made Yuzu's eyes sting. Blinking rapidly, she took a deep breath. It wasn't fair to be angry at Mei for keeping important things from her if she wasn't willing to put all her cards on the table either. _This is it. Now or never._

"It matters because of our relationship." Her voice was a whisper, but she knew Mei heard her. "You should have told me that you're basically promised to someone else."

Mei turned to her, amethyst eyes brimming with something Yuzu couldn't quite place. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth. "Our relationship?"

It was Yuzu's turn to sigh. Despite being academically gifted, Mei acted like she had a severe case of _dumb bitch disease _sometimes_. _"Yes Mei, our relationship," she said patiently. Her tone was full of conviction when she continued, "This thing we've been doing the past few weeks? We have a _thing_ going on. We haven't labeled it yet, but we are certainly in some kind of relationship with each other."

"Okay," Mei breathed deeply, wringing the steering wheel in pure anxiety. "I suppose you're right. We are certainly…involved with each other. I…like you a lot."

"So that's why finding out you're engaged blindsided me! You should have told me right from the beginning, so we could have talked about what that means for us, and certainly before I started developing feelings, Mei!"

"But it's not like we were in a serious relationship!" Mei cried, her voice reverberating in the confined space of the car. "We're just messing around, having fun before we graduate and start living in the real world."

Yuzu's chest cavity experienced a sudden loss of cabin pressure. It felt like her lungs were collapsing. Her nails curled into her palm.

"It wasn't serious, right?" Mei's voice rose sharply on the last word, like a person quickly sinking, crying out for a lifeline. The brunette shot her a quick glance, her eyes seeking reassurance. "Right?"

It was a long moment before Yuzu answered, "Right."

She told Mei she was tired and just wanted to sleep. They spent the rest of the car ride in silence.

* * *

**Hey when are you and Matsuri getting back?**

_Tomorrow around 2pm. How was Thanksgiving with Mei's fam?_

**Yeah it wasn't great**

️ _what happened?_

**Long story. Not important.**

**Actually not rly a long story. Her grandpa is a dick. But that's no t the real problem**

_Ugh I had a feeling he was a jerk_

**The problem is that I'm dumb**

Ur not dumb you're the smartest person I know

**I'm the dumb bitch who caught feelings for her roommate. God I'm pathetic I'm such a basic bitch**

Hold up why is this a bad thing? Did Mei's grandpa find out about you two? ? ? ?

**No no nothing like that.**

**But it's over. It's really over. I'm done. I don't want to be her roommate anymore. **

_Oh snap. It's serious huh_

**Can we be roommates next semester? Please? I know you like being in a single but I'm a real good roommate. **

_Of course I'll be your roomie _

_We just need to fill out the room change request_

_The deadline was 3 wks ago but I think it fine_

**And I won't fall in love with you cus you're already wifed up, haha**

**I'm never falling in love again **

**I'm in so much pain rn**

_Hey where r u , are you drinking right now_

_Matsuri is worried. Me too. _

_Hellooooo?_

**Nah dude I'm still in the car with Mei. Driving back from Chicago**

Oh ok ok. Call me when you get home

**So how's it going with Matsuri over there.**

It's good. My Grandma loves her. Go figure ?￢ﾀﾍ ️ Mitsuko was a little iffy but she's like that with everyone

**That's ggreat **

* * *

The end of fall semester was crazy busy for everyone on campus.

When students returned from Thanksgiving weekend, there was one week of regular classes and then Finals the following week. Essentially, there were two weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter Break.

Two weeks to wrap up classes, submit last projects and papers, take exams, and packing to head home for the holidays. Students usually lose their minds during this time and there's a reason why the mental health services are ramped up starting late November.

In the Chi Theta Sigma house, there was a moratorium on partying and sorority activities so the girls could buckle down for Finals Week.

Mei did all her studying in her room, but Yuzu was never there unless it was to sleep at night. There were a few nights she didn't even do that, falling asleep in Harumi's room across the hall instead. In the morning she would grab her clothes and leave again, barely saying a few words to Mei.

Yuzu never seemed to be in any mood to talk to her. When Mei would ask her questions, it would all be monosyllabic answers and polite detachment.

One time Mei swallowed up all her pride and knocked on Harumi's bedroom door.

"Come in," Harumi's voice came through the door.

She poked her head in. Yuzu was sprawled on Harumi's bed typing away on her laptop. Harumi was at her desk while Matsuri was sitting on the floor playing a video game in front of the TV.

Forcing her voice to be chipper, she announced, "I'm going for a Starbucks run. You guys want anything?"

Not missing a beat in her video game, Matsuri immediately rattled off her order. "Venti Java Chip Frap. Thanks. I owe ya."

"I'll take a Grande soy caramel latte." Harumi smiled warmly at her. "Thanks a lot. And I'll pay for Matsuri's Frappuccino. Oh, and no straw. I have reusable ones in here."

"No problem." Mei nodded. When several moments passed and her roommate hadn't said anything, she asked brightly, "Yuzu?"

Emerald eyes flicked up at her before lowering to the textbook a second later. "I'm good, thanks."

"Okay, I'll be right back!" she said before closing the bedroom door. It wasn't until she was walking away that tears pricked at her eyes and the rock in her stomach dropped even lower.

* * *

Matsuri paused her game. "Hey, do you think you're being a little harsh on Mei? She looked like she was gonna cry when you didn't want her damn Starbucks."

Yuzu's face pinched into a frown. "I'm not doing anything. I'm just staying out of her way."

"Okay but she clearly doesn't want that. She looks like hell, man," Matsuri pressed. "Like she's depressed or something."

"Well there's the therapy dogs at the Student Union that she can cuddle if she's feeling stressed," Yuzu grumbled, turning her attention back to her textbook.

"Yuzu," sighed Matsuri. "Come on."

Harumi was conspicuously silent, but she didn't scold her girlfriend, which meant that she agreed with what she was saying.

"Come on, nothing." Yuzu smacked her textbook with her palm and then sat up on the bed. "I can't do it. I can't pretend that everything's fine between us, that I'm fine. I can't just smile and laugh and act like we're best friends and then _fuck_ her when she gets horny."

Matsuri's eyebrows raised but she knew better than to make a wisecrack at this moment. Harumi had already trained her well.

"I fell in love with her, but that's on me. I was dumb," Yuzu continued bitterly, rubbing the spot above her eyebrows with her fingertips. "Because of course she doesn't feel the same way. Of course she was just experimenting with girls." A desperate, humorless laugh fell from her mouth. "But that's what I get for falling for a trust fund baby who's engaged to some tycoon. I'm so stupid."

"Hey. Stop talking to yourself like that. You're pissing me off," snapped Matsuri. "You couldn't have known, okay? These things are just messy, but just don't beat yourself up over it."

Yuzu waved her hand dismissively. "Anyway. It's whatever. The point is, I can't face Mei and act like everything is fine. Because it's not. I'm just trying to keep it together and get through Finals Week and not fall apart. It's gonna take some time for me to bounce back from this, and in the meantime, Mei is just gonna have to suck it up and deal."

Matsuri stared at her for several beats. Then she shrugged and said "Okay."

* * *

"Where did my blue hoodie go?" Yuzu muttered, scratching her head and looking around the room. Piles of clothing, shoes, and makeup were scattered around her side of the room, their intended destination the suitcase on top of the bed.

"I don't know," Mei said behind her.

Yuzu gave a fleeting glance towards her direction. It was half a second, but it felt like a tiny victory that Yuzu was acknowledging her.

"Oh, I wasn't actually asking. Don't mind me, I'm just talking to myself," Yuzu said with a shrug.

"When did you see it last?" Mei asked helpfully. She would pretty much say anything right now to make Yuzu continue talking with her.

"Pretty sure I was wearing it two days ago," Yuzu said as she went back to packing her suitcase to go home for winter break.

Mei walked over to the foot of Yuzu's bed. "Do you want me to help you look for it?"

"Nah." Yuzu waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. I mean it's my favorite hoodie but I've got plenty of hoodies back home. I think I probably left it at Matsuri's place, now that I think about it."

"Okay," she said meekly and sat back down on her bed. Different ideas of what else to talk about tumbled around in her brain, but they all seemed dumb. Two weeks ago, they could talk about anything and everything, but now there were eggshells everywhere.

When Mei saw that there were only a couple of shirts left that needed to go into the suitcase, panic took over. _Say something. Anything. Don't let her leave for almost a month and have this hanging between you. Fix it now._

"Yuzu," she breathed. "I hope you have a good break. I know you miss your mom and all your friends. And the sunny weather."

The suitcase was zipped closed before Yuzu looked up. A smile that didn't reach her eyes tugged on one side of her mouth. "Thanks. It'll be nice to soak up some rays for a few weeks. And yeah, I miss my Cali people."

"I miss you," fell from her mouth before she could even think about it. Embarrassment flushed hot in cheeks immediately afterwards.

But then she felt even worse when Yuzu simply said quietly, "You'll be fine." The suitcase was pulled to the floor with thud. It felt like the slamming of a door in her face.

As she watched Yuzu gather her coat and purse, some anger started to bubble to the surface. So Yuzu can just shut her out, just like that? Not talk about it like adults?

"Listen, can we talk about this?" She stepped in front of Yuzu, blocking her view of the door. "This is insane. One minute we're spending every second together and the next minute you completely stop talking to me. What the heck, Yuzu? That's not fair."

Yuzu's mouth was set in a thin line as she listened, and the set of her shoulders indicated that she was bracing for this. "I know it's not fair. I'm sorry. I've been dealing with a lot of stuff."

"Okay?" Mei's voice cracked. "Me too. These past two weeks have been really shitty."

Yuzu lowered her eyes. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She couldn't hold back anymore, so she closed the distance between them. "Then don't," Mei pleaded.

But Yuzu moved around her and stepped towards the door, and she felt like a lifeline was being ripped away.

"I fell for you, Mei." The hushed confession fell like a ton of bricks on her head. She had figured it out of course, but now that Yuzu actually verbalized it, there was no way to deny it anymore, or pretend otherwise. It was out in the open and they had to address it.

"It was stupid. I know I wasn't supposed to catch feelings. It was clear from the very start that we were just hooking up. But it happened and I have to pick up the pieces," Yuzu continued brokenly.

Mei couldn't really speak. What was she supposed to say to that? What was she supposed to _do?_

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say," she whispered.

"Nothing, you don't have to say anything." Yuzu shook her head slowly, still not facing her. "This is on me."

Mei hated to corner Yuzu like this, but she quickly stepped in front of her roommate again so that they could see eye to eye. "This wasn't supposed to happen, Yuzu! You said so yourself the first time we did it, that it was just hate sex!"

The barest hint of a smile graced Yuzu's lips. "Oh yeah, I said that."

"What am I supposed to do, Yuzu?" The pleading in her voice was genuine. "I have my whole life planned out for me. Graduate with a business degree, join my family's company, get married, have some kids. Meeting you wasn't part of the plan. This," she pointed to herself and then to Yuzu, "wasn't part of the plan."

_Wanting to be with you, more than anything I've ever wanted… was not part of the plan._

"Look, I get it. I'm not an idiot." Yuzu's brow wrinkled. "This is just an interesting little footnote in your life story, your last semester in college when you fooled around with your sorority sister."

_That's not it! That's not what this is._

But she couldn't say that. Her mouth was silenced by lifetime of conformity and fulfilling her family's and society's expectations of her.

That didn't mean she couldn't try to bargain.

"I still want us to be friends, Yuzu. Let's just go back to the way we were before… all this. We don't even have to have sex." Hastily she added, "Or we can! Up to you. I just want to fix this"

Yuzu shook her head, her mouth in a thin line. "I can't be your friend, Mei."

"Why not?!"

"So many reasons. Because you keep moving the goalposts. First we're enemies, then enemies who have drunk sex, then you ignore me, then you use me for sex but sometimes you're also sweet."

Now that was just preposterous. "I did not use you for sex!"

"The point is, I can't keep doing this anymore, this back and forth. I've had feelings for you from the very start, Mei. But I'm breaking out of this cycle and I can't do that if we're still being _friends_." Yuzu put air quotes on the last word, her face perfectly calm.

This was so wrong. The room felt like it was getting smaller.

"Listen, we can talk about this. When you get to California, you call me, okay? And we're going to have a conversation about how we're going to move forward – "

"There's nothing to talk about," Yuzu replied firmly. "And next semester I'll be rooming with Harumi."

_Oh. _

She did not see that coming.

It started to dawn on her.

It was over between her and Yuzu.

Mei could see Yuzu's lips moving. Her voice was muted and distorted, like it was coming from underwater. Something about _Emily_ and _coming back from study abroad_ and _next semester_ and _roommate change request. _She couldn't process any of it. Not right now.

Then Yuzu was standing in front of the open door, her hand on the knob. Mei took one last good look at her.

"Have a good break, Mei."

"You too."

And then she was gone.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Thoughts?


	10. love is over?

After Yuzu walked out the door, Mei took a few minutes to compose herself.

Several deep breaths later, Mei calmly exited the bedroom and went about her very busy day.

When she returned to the sorority house late that evening, the remaining girls in the house were watching a horror film. Mei hated scary movies of any kind, but she obediently sat through the whole thing. Going to her room and being alone was not an option.

Once the end credits started to roll, Paige grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. She looked around the room and laughed. "Oh wow, they all cut out and left." Turning to her with a smile, she said, "I'm surprised you stayed till the end, Mei. I know this isn't your jam."

"I like to try new things," Mei responded with a shrug. _I can't be alone with my thoughts right now. _

Paige nodded thoughtfully, then opened her mouth in a big yawn.

"Is there another movie you want to see?" Mei asked quickly. _Please, don't go back to your room yet._

"Oh god, no. I'm super sleepy. I've been up since 6am this morning."

Her shoulders sagged, anxiety threading through her stomach.

"'Night Mei." The younger girl rose from the couch.

"Goodnight," she said quietly.

Now here she was, in her room, finally alone after Yuzu left. The silence in their room was so heavy. It seemed to press on her from all sides.

Yuzu's side of the room was devoid of the items that were usually strewn about. Clothes draped over the desk chair, make up and cosmetics on top of the dresser, books and manga piled beside the bed. Even the Yuzubochi plush toy was gone.

The absence of Yuzu's personal items sent a pang of sadness to throb in her chest. The room had never felt so empty.

_What's worse is that when she comes back in a month, she'll pack up the rest of her things and move out._

Winter break seemed to stretch out in front of her, impossibly long. Like staring down the barrel of a shotgun. What the hell was she going to do to fill up her days?

Mei sighed and rose from her desk chair. Maybe after a good night's sleep, things will seem better in the morning.

Several hours later, staring up at the ceiling as she lay in bed, Mei gave in.

She sat up and pulled Yuzu's baby blue hoodie from under her pillow. The dark room was the only witness to Mei pulling on the hoodie, so she didn't have to feel embarrassed. Not even when she lifted the collar over her nose and inhaled deeply, her eyes slipping shut. It still smelled like Yuzu.

She laid back down and soon was finally able to fall asleep.

* * *

"Mama! Breakfast's ready!" Yuzu plated the omelet and set it on her mother's place at the kitchenette table.

"Good morning, dear," said Ume before giving her a kiss on her forehead. Sitting down in her chair, she continued, "I'm so happy my baby is home."

Yuzu gave her mother a warm smile as she sat down across the older woman. "Me too, mom. I'm happy to be home. I really missed this."

They proceeded to eat breakfast, their first meal together after four months. Ume wanted to know everything about Yuzu's semester in her new school out in the Midwest.

"And how are your sorority sisters?"

"I'm getting along great with them!" Yuzu said excitedly. "All the girls are super nice. I got really lucky with this chapter."

Ume smiled, pleased. "Do you have any close friends?"

Yuzu nodded. "One of my sorority sisters, Harumi Taniguchi, who is basically my new bestie. We're like this." Crossed fingers were presented to the older woman. "She has a girlfriend named Matsuri who's two years younger and she can be little snark machine but Harumi loves her and I love her to bits too. The three of us are always together and we have so much fun."

There was pause and Ume gently prompted, "And you, Yuzu? Do you have a girlfriend?"

The expression that crossed Yuzu's face was so stricken that Ume immediately reached for her daughter's hand. "Honey, what is it?"

Yuzu opened her mouth to speak, but instead she sucked in a breath. "There was a," she managed to say, her voice quivering. "There was a girl, my roommate—" Her voice cracked, and a dry sob burst through her throat.

Ume simply stroked the top of Yuzu's hand as she patiently waited for her daughter to speak again.

* * *

Light stabbed into her corneas when Mei's eyes peeled open. Groaning, Mei dragged her body up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

A night's sleep didn't help. She still felt like shit.

The sight of Yuzu's empty still brought a hollow feeling in her stomach. Staying here today wasn't going to happen. What should she do then?

Mei ran a hand down her face, activating her stern inner voice. _Get it together. You've somehow managed to survive 22 years without Yuzu. You don't need her. You can live without her._

But a quiet voice insisted, _you don't want to live without her. Now that you've found her, you're just going to let her go? Just like that?_

Mei groaned in distress. That quiet voice can just shut the fuck up. That quiet voice didn't have to live with everything she had to. Namely, her family's expectations. Her own expectations.

After a long hot shower, Mei reached for her phone on the nightstand. She felt an irrational stab of disappointment when there weren't any messages from Yuzu.

_Why would she text you? She said she doesn't want to talk. _

However, she had one new email in her personal Gmail account.

**Udagawa, Andrew** [New Message] Subject: _Fwd: Your Flight Details_

She opened the email and scrolled through the forwarded flight itinerary from Andrew. After checking the dates lined up with her own trip reservations, she typed out a quick reply of _thanks. I'll see you next week. _

The phone was slipped into her back pocket, and Mei headed out of the room to begin her goal of filling up her day with tasks.

* * *

A few days at home with her mom, and Yuzu was feeling much better. It was going to be okay. So she caught feelings for a girl who turned out to be completely unavailable. Correction, not just unavailable, but in an _arranged marriage_ like she was a noblewoman in feudal Japan or something. Totally insane.

Anyway, she was going to move on. When she comes back to school after the break, all will be cool. She'll room with Harumi and everything will be _fine._

In the meantime, she was going to stop moping and enjoy her winter break.

"I look hot," she said to her reflection in the full-length mirror. The two hours spent on her outfit, make-up and hair was certainly Insta-worthy.

This was a look that always turned heads, men _and _women. Besides, she had to look her cutest if she didn't want to look like Cinderella next to the Tachibana twins. The two sisters were picking her up to take her to their home in Malibu, and undoubtedly they were going to show up dressed to _slay. _

Yuzu looked at the mirror again and rolled her shoulders back. _Yes. This is exactly what I need._ Her girls were coming and they were going to paint the town red.

It felt great to be back home in California.

Her roommate was going to be a distant memory in no time.

* * *

There were many things that took up Mei's time. She busied herself with sorority business like end-of-year reports for the national office, drawing up next semester's program schedule, finding a banquet hall for the Winter Formal in February, and going over the all the budgets. Most afternoons were spent volunteering at the student food pantry on campus. For the past few days she even started going for a run on the treadmill in the basement of the sorority house.

Mei was able to fill up her days but couldn't outrun thoughts of Yuzu.

It didn't seem to matter how productive she was or how tired she got. Like the waves in the sea being pulled by the moon's gravity, her thoughts would irresistibly turn towards her roommate.

Running on the treadmill, lungs burning from exertion, battery acid pumping in her veins, and all of a sudden Yuzu's smiling face would force its way to the front of her mind. It would almost make her stumble, but she would push her legs to go even faster. But her hammering pulse couldn't block out piercing green eyes and luscious blond hair.

Every so often while she was working on the computer, her eyes would inevitably stray to the iMessage app on the dock at the bottom of the screen. Just hoping for a little red icon that indicated she had a new text message. Wishing it was from Yuzu.

After each volunteer shift at the Food Bank she would eagerly check her phone for new messages. Crushing disappointment would weigh heavy on her each time there was none from Yuzu.

* * *

"Honey, Sara and Nina are here!" Ume shouted from the living room.

Grabbing her purse and sunglasses, she hurried out of her room, excited to see her friends.

The two girls wore identical expressions of happiness, but the taller twin made an ear-splitting squeal before lunging and enveloping her into a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too." Yuzu smiled into Nina's shoulder and hugged the statuesque girl back, taking care not to accidentally stick her face into the huge boobs in front of her.

The three of them sat down in the living room and chatted with Ume a little bit before she had to leave for work.

"You girls have fun." Ume dropped a kiss on Yuzu's forehead. Gesturing to her daughter, she teased, "This one needs some serious distraction to take her mind off her little heartbreak."

Yuzu tilted her head back and groaned loudly, "Ugh Mama, come on. I should never have told you about her."

There was a soft chuckle before the front door opened and closed.

Sara leaned forward and placed her hand on Yuzu's knee and urged, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it's fine. I'm done talking about it," she whined. "Thanks for FaceTiming with me when I was freaking out about Mei. But I'm fine now. I'm doing okay." A stiff upper lip was added for maximum effect.

Nina gave her a look that looked suspiciously like pity before smoothing over into a wide smile, mischief sparking in her eyes. "All right. Now that you're home, here's the deal: for the next three weeks, us three are going to have a blast. We're gonna go to parties. We're gonna go to the beach and the pool and look fuckin' hot in our bikinis. We're gonna get our drink on, so apologize to your liver now."

Yuzu giggled in agreement. Sara huffed but didn't disagree with her younger sister.

"Yuzu, darling," Nina drawled, crossing her legs with a flash of a red-bottomed heel. "I am officially going to be your wingwoman for the next three weeks."

"And what does that mean?"

"I'm going to make it my mission to find you at least one cutie to make out with before Christmas." Nina sealed her promise with a wink.

A genuine laugh bubbled out of Yuzu, the first in what felt like a long time. "What happens if you can't find me someone cute to make out with?"

A smile crawled across Nina's lips. "I'll take one for the team and make out with you."

Yuzu could feel her cheeks turning pink as she chuckled nervously.

Sara rolled her eyes and rose from the sofa. "C'mon, I want brunch. We can continue this over mimosas."

"Okay but first, let's take pictures!" Nina called after the two girls who were already walking out of the apartment. Snatching Yuzu's phone from her friend's hand, she pulled both girls to stand between her for a selfie.

"All right, smiiiiiile." Right before pressing the button to take the picture, Nina cupped Yuzu's cheek with the palm of her free hand. She pulled Yuzu's face close, puckered her lips and placed a kiss on her friend's cheek. **_Click._**

Another photo where they were all smiling up at the camera. **_Click._**

Nina tucked her head into Yuzu's neck and bared her teeth, pretending to bite the blonde like a vampire. Sara had a faux-shocked expression on her face. **_Click._**

Yuzu poked her cheek with a peace sign, Nina winked, and Sara stuck out her tongue. **_Click._**

Yuzu in the middle, with Sara and Nina kissing each of her cheeks. **_Click._**

"We look super cute ladies," Nina said approvingly as she reviewed their mini photoshoot. "Cute enough for the 'Gram." She located the app on Yuzu's phone and uploaded the photo.

She was in the middle of typing out a caption when her sister yelled at her from the driver's seat of the Porsche.

"Nina, get in the car now or we're leaving you!"

The top was down, and Yuzu was already sitting in the passenger seat with her aviator sunglasses on.

An hour later, they were finally seated at a brunch place.

Yuzu took a sip of her mimosa, savoring the sweetness of the orange juice and the fizzy bite of the sparkling wine. Turning to the taller twin, she asked, "Why do you still have my phone?"

Her phone was retrieved from a designer purse and placed on the table. "I was downloading Tinder on your phone. Now we can make your profile," Nina answered matter-of-factly.

Setting down her empty flute, Sara clapped her hands, already buzzed from the bubbly. "Ohhh, fun!"

* * *

At this point, Mei could admit to herself that she missed Yuzu terribly. She just wanted to know how Yuzu was doing. What was she doing? Was she happy?

Was she having fun back home?

Did she think about her at all?

That's why she looked for Yuzu's Instagram.

Big mistake.

Okay, not entirely. It was both a blessing and a curse, following Yuzu's social media. On one hand, a window into Yuzu's daily life was now open to Mei.

x

**yuzu_okogi **_feelin myself _#ootd #selfiesaturday #selfiegame

328 Likes

x

Mei drank in blond hair in beach waves, winged eyeliner, bloodred lipstick, high-waisted shorts that hugged those hips, and slingback heels that made those long legs even sexier.

She stared at the photo for a really long time. Not that she needed to be reminded that her estranged roommate/former lover was super gorgeous. _I hit that, _she thought in awe. Her eyes also greedily absorbed the details of what looked to be Yuzu's bedroom. She felt a pang of regret when she realized that this was a part of Yuzu's life that she would never get to share.

The next post made Mei's heart plummet to her stomach.

x

**yuzu_okogi **_Reunited with _**talltachibana** **smoltachibana**_ and it feels so good_. _Watch out these girls are back together and on the prowl _#chithetasigma #sisters #bff #californiagirls

443 Likes

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**godtier_ichika **my girls lookin fresh to death. Can't wait to see your faces soon!

**nene_nomnom** you back in town? holla at ur girl

x

The post was a series of pictures of Yuzu together with two platinum blondes who appeared to be twins. An ugly, burning knot twisted in her gut as she stared at the photo of the taller twin tenderly cupping Yuzu's face and kissing her cheek.

_Who is this girl?! _Mei wanted to scream. But she was sitting in the break room of the Food Bank, and all she could do was tremble in fury.

Frantically scrolling through the rest of Yuzu's Instagram, she deduced that Yuzu has been hanging out with this person for the past few days. Driving around in a convertible, eating complicated salads in hipster restaurants, sunbathing in the beach. But always as part of a trio, with the girl's twin sister. That mollified her a little bit, but it didn't explain why '**_talltachibana_**' was kissing Yuzu so close to her _mouth._ Or why they always sat close to each other.

The urge to text Yuzu with a snarky message was strong. Something along the lines of _are you having fun back home with your Team B? _

But she couldn't do that, because god that sounded so bitchy and like a crazy jealous girlfriend when she obviously had no right to be.

_"But it's not like we were in a serious relationship! We're just messing around, having fun before we graduate and start living in the real world."_

Her own words to Yuzu rang in her head for the millionth time. Each time, she wished they would give her resolve, to convince her that she did the right thing, the only logical thing.

But they never did. It was simply another bitter pill to swallow, like a whole stream of Instagram posts where Yuzu was happy and carefree, clearly better off hanging out with other girls who was not her.

* * *

Yuzu rolled out her pink yoga mat on the hardwood floor. The class was pretty packed, so they had to set up where there were free spots. Sara and Nina were a couple rows behind her.

The yoga teacher, a young woman with ripped arms and lululemon pants, stepped into the room.

"Good evening everyone, I'd like to begin tonight's practice on our backs." She glided easily between the rows of mats toward the front of the room.

Yuzu dutifully stretched herself long on her mat.

"Take a deep breath," the woman instructed, her voice pitched low. "And _exhaaaaaaaale_. That's it. Again. _Inhale_."

Yuzu closed her eyes and felt the breath roll through her body. When she exhaled this time, the muscles along her neck and spine relaxed, uncoiling like a fist that had been clenching for far too long.

_God_, she thought, pulling her knees up into her chest. _I needed this. I've been such a hot mess._

After a round of floor asanas, the teacher led them through their first flow.

"We're trying to build heat in our core," the instructor purred as if sweat wasn't running down Yuzu's sides every time she stretched her arms over her head. The heater in the corner was on full blast.

The girl beside her lay down on her mat with a huff, refusing to go on.

Yuzu couldn't quit. She wanted her mind to be fucking _empty_, her thoughts obliterated, and this flow was too consuming to let her down. Thoughts of Mei and what she was doing right now hadn't intruded into her mind, so she was doing great. It's like Mei didn't exist or something.

_I am so zen right now._

"Now we're going to move into crow pose."

Crow pose. One of the more advanced poses because you basically had hold up all your weight on your palms, while your knees were tucked up under your armpits, with your head dangling over the floor. It required a _lot_ of core strength, concentration, and practice.

"If you can't complete do the whole pose, just stay in your squat. That's totally fine. Remember, yoga isn't a competition!" the teacher chirped.

It's been a while since Yuzu did crow pose. _But it's fine. I got this. _

Yuzu rolled forward from her squat and bent her elbows deeply. Activating her core, she drew her body up and began to place her knees on the back of her elbows.

She touched them lightly, adjusting to the weight and balance of her body. An exhale, and she settled into the pose. Her face was parallel to the floor.

"And we're going to hold it for a five count. 5…4…"

As she stared into the ground, Mei's face appeared under her. Ebony hair fanned across the pillow, lips parted as Mei's breath came out in soft gasps. Her cheeks were tinted pink and her pupils blown wide. Yuzu felt Mei's nails digging into the soft flesh of her shoulder.

"3..2.."

Mei's mouth fell open as pleasure rolled across her expression. Her back arched into bow, pressing their naked, sweat-slicked chests together.

_God, I love staring at Mei's beautiful face when she comes. _

"..1"

Yuzu's whole body tightened at the memory, her elbows locking up involuntarily. She felt herself pitching forward. Since she was on her hands already, she couldn't reach out to brace herself for the fall. All she could do was faceplant into the hard wooden floor with a loud **_splat._**

Stars appeared behind her closed eyelids as pain erupted in her forehead. Everyone in the class gasped loudly.

"Yuzu!" shrieked Nina's voice behind her. There was a mad shuffle of feet towards her crouched body. "Oh my god, are you okay?!"

The lesson of the day was: don't daydream about your ex when attempting advanced yoga poses.

* * *

Mei dragged herself to a planning session with Himeko for the Winter Formal in the study room.

"Hey, listen," Himeko said wearily. She laid down her papers and had a look of concern on her face, but also like she was bracing for a fight. "You know you can talk to me, right? I'm your bestfriend."

"Okay?"

"Do you want to talk about your love spat with Yuzu?"

"I'm sorry," Mei's said slowly and thoughtfully, her brows furrowing together like she was genuinely flummoxed by the question. "What?"

Himeko let out a long-suffering sigh. "I know that you and Yuzu were together, but then you had a big fight, and now you're lowkey depressed and pining over her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mei insisted, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

"I'm straight, not _blind_." Himeko gave a pointed look at Yuzu's hoodie that Mei was wearing. "It's pretty obvious that you guys were hooking up. Neither one of you is discreet."

"I— no, we're not even," Mei sputtered. "We're not even like that."

The response so that was an eye roll and a dry, "I've seen you two kissing in your car in the parking lot, when it was dark and you probably thought no one could see. Like five times."

"Um."

"People could hear you guys have sex in your room. You've woken up Sasha and Aubrey in the middle of the night with your noises. Apparently one of you is really loud," Himeko continued patiently. "And I was awake when you were doing it in the hotel room in Ohio."

"Oh my god." Mei covered her face with her hands with a groan. "I thought we were being careful."

"Well, you weren't," Himeko pointed out. "Anyway, you're a mess, sis. What happened?"

And so Mei told her. Once she got past the initial embarrassment of their sorority knowing about their sexual habits, it was almost a relief to get everything off her chest. Out of everyone she knew, Himeko knew where she was coming from and could even relate.

With a comforting hand on her shoulder, Himeko said, "I know that your engagement to Andrew never bothered you before. But you do know that if you've changed your mind about this marriage…you can call it off, right? Like this was a soft agreement between your guys' parents, but it's not legally binding."

Himeko wasn't saying anything she didn't already know.

"Well of course I can call the whole thing off." Her fingers found their way to her hair and she fisted them, pulling at her roots in agitation. "But is that what I should do? Why would I toss away the life I've been expecting to lead…for Yuzu? A sorority sister who I just happened to have sex with?"

"Because you love her," Himeko replied, in a manner so nonchalant it could be considered blasé. "You're _in_ love with her," she corrected.

"That's ridiculous." Mei giggled, the sound full of desperation and bordering on hysteria. "I'm not in love with Yuzu Okogi. I don't even know what love _is_. I have no frame of reference for it but I'm pretty sure, positively sure that I am not in fact in love with her."

Himeko gave her a pitying look. "Fine. Whatever you say. Just think on it, okay?"

"And besides, doing something drastic like breaking it off with Andrew so I could be with Yuzu would make me _lesbian_," Mei argued vehemently, trying to find some kind of equilibrium within this deeply unsettling conversation. "I am not a lesbian. Yuzu is the first girl I've kissed and had sex with!"

Himeko closed her eyes as she rubbed little circles on her temples with her fingertips. "Mei, you're not only lesbian, you're a _disaster lesbian_."

* * *

"You've only swiped right on preppy Asian girls with long straight black hair," Nina observed, sounding totally judgey. "And ones with a serious and slightly bitchy vibe."

"So? I have a type," Yuzu responded grumpily, not even turning her head to look at Nina lying on the pool lounger to her right. Under the brim of a floppy sunhat, her eyebrows drew together.

"Meaning, girls who look like Mei?"

An indignant grunt sounded from her throat, but before she could form an argument, the girl on her left spoke up.

"Oh, leave her alone, Nina," Sara scolded her younger sister. "Let her swipe on whoever she wants. That's literally the point of Tinder."

"I'm just saying, she needs to broaden her horizons!" Nina huffed. "When you're doing vacation dating— it's a numbers game. Believe me…"

Yuzu sighed deeply, tuning out the squabbling over the merits of quality vs. quantity in app-based dating. She loved the twins, she really did. It helped a lot, running around Malibu with her closest friends.

But the sun, sand, and beautiful people weren't enough to make her forget. Or fill the Mei-shaped hole in her heart.

While swiping through those damnable Tinder profiles, she would remember the reason why she was doing it in the first place. Because Mei didn't want her.

_"__This wasn't supposed to happen, Yuzu! You said so yourself the first time we did it, that it was just hate sex!"_

Recalling Mei's words stole the breath from her lungs if she thought about it too hard.

_"I have my whole life planned out for me." _

_"__Meeting you wasn't part of the plan."_

No matter how much she tried to justify and rationalize in her mind why Mei wouldn't choose her, they've only known each other for a semester for christ's sake– the rejection still hurt so bad.

Well, it was her own damn fault though. Why couldn't she just be content with their arrangement of casual sex? Why the hell did she want to be _more _than just fuck buddies?

Feeling sorry for herself was getting really old, honestly. Getting angry and indignant was a much more useful reaction because it blunted the pain.

Yuzu stood up so abruptly that Sara and Nina paused their bickering, two silver heads swiveling towards her. Removing her sunglasses and tossing them onto the lounger she vacated, she said, "I'm getting in the pool. You guys coming in?"

Without waiting for an answer, she walked towards the edge of the pool, raised her arms overhead and then sliced into the water with a perfectly executed standing dive. Her body cut through the length of the pool twice and her head didn't break the surface until her lungs were burning.

* * *

From the window of the gondola, Mei watched the majestic scenery of Aspen Mountain as she rode the aerial lift up to the summit. Down below, tiny people glided down the snow-covered trails, weaving through clumps of evergreen trees. She was on her way to meet Andrew Udagawa for an après ski.

Mei arrived in Colorado earlier that day on a red-eye flight, early enough to be among the first in line for the ski lift at the resort.

While she was out there in the slopes, the noise in her head was muted to a low hum, replaced by the exhilaration of speeding down a mountain trail of fresh powder. That moment when she was at the top of a Black Diamond slope, heart in her throat as her skis were poised over the edge, there was no room for her worries or thinking about her life choices.

It was just the wind in her ears, the cold biting her face, the brilliant Colorado sun in the cobalt blue sky, and the glide of her skis carving a path on the glittering snow. During the race to the bottom, that was all there was.

While she was skiing, she could escape Himeko's ridiculous accusation that she was in love with Yuzu. It was a crazy notion, but it had taken a foothold in her mind. It was deeply unsettling, like a splinter in her brain, and Mei wished Himeko wasn't such a know-it-all.

The gondola reached the summit of Aspen Mountain at more than 11,000 feet above sea level. She walked to Sundeck, taking in the majestic views of the snow-capped mountain peaks towering above. Looking at her watch, she realized that she was going to be a little late meeting with Andrew.

Mei and Andrew met for the first time here in Aspen, when she was around eight years old. The Udagawa family had organized some kind of charity event at the Snowmass resort, and she and her father attended to represent the Aiharas. Her dad had taught her how to ski, and it became a family tradition to come to Aspen every winter season. Even after Shou got too busy with running the Japanese operations of Aihara Corporation, Mei kept coming to Aspen. The ski trip was also the one time each year when she and Andrew would meet for a few days.

It was an unspoken thing between them, but since they were going to be married one day, it felt like a good idea to maintain constant contact through the years.

Because wouldn't it just be super awkward to have to marry a complete stranger when their wedding day came? Ergo, the yearly ski trips.

Andrew was seated at a table in the middle of the busy restaurant, typing away on his phone, and Mei made her way towards her fiancé. He was wearing a navy blue cable knit sweater, snug around his broad shoulders, accentuating his lean, toned physique. His jet-black hair was perfectly styled, not a strand out of place.

When she arrived at his table, he smiled broadly and stood up to give her an awkward one-armed side hug, and she gave two perfunctory pats with her palm on his back.

When they released each other, Mei caught a whiff of Andrew's scent –notes of mint and sandalwood, but also with a spicy musk. Her nose twitched infinitesimally. _He smells like a man. _

_Well of course he smells like a man. Why wouldn't he? He's a man. _

A man that she was going to be married to one day.

Her stomach lurched at the thought. Through some impressive mental parkour, she convinced herself it was because she was just _nervous._

She refused to compare Andrew's masculine smell to the soft, comforting floral scent that still lingered in Yuzu's hoodie. The hoodie that she brought to Colorado with her. The same hoodie that she sprayed with the bottle of Yuzu's body spray that was left behind in their room.

Food and drinks were ordered, and they had a nice enough time catching up with each other's life. Talking to Andrew was actually very easy_._ He was kind, well-mannered, and intelligent. Just all-around inoffensive. A genuinely nice guy.

_Andrew would make a good husband_, she thought as chewed her salad_. I'm going to be happily married to him because he's such a nice guy,_ she insisted, trying to shove the idea into her brain matter.

By the time they finished with dinner and rode the gondola down the mountain, the sun was slipping behind the horizon, painting the sky in hues of blood orange and purple.

"So I'll see you at the lodge tomorrow at 9am?" Andrew asked, slipping on his leather gloves.

Mei took a fortifying breath. _I've prepared for this this. I'm ready. _"Sure, 9am sounds good. But right now I'm not really ready to go back to my hotel room. I don't really have anything planned for the rest of the night, so do you mind if we go back to your place and hang out?"

Eyebrows raised in surprise. Andrew had clearly not been expecting that. In all the years they'd known each other, they had never spent any length of time alone with each other, much less at _night. _

Recovering quickly, a tight smile smoothed over his features. "That sounds like a great idea. Give me a moment and let me make a quick call, okay?"

As Andrew walked to the corner of the sidewalk to make his call, Mei stared out into downtown Aspen, unseeing. A numbness started to blanket over her, draping over her mind and body.

They drove to his vacation rental, a gorgeous slopeside chalet on Snowmass mountain. A fire was crackling in the fireplace when Andrew asked Mei what she would like to drink.

"Whatever you're having." She didn't particularly care, but having something in her hand would be nice.

Andrew nodded and poured two fingers of Scotch in a rocks glass. After handing it to her, he sat on the other end of the huge leather couch opposite from her.

Mei took a tiny sip of her Scotch, savoring the way it warmed her chest despite the burn in her throat. She didn't drink alcohol regularly, but she really appreciated the way the whiskey drove away the cold she felt deep in her bones.

Her fiancé was staring straight ahead, the fire casting shifting shadows on his face. Andrew had a faraway look in his eyes, like he was a million miles away.

This is the person Mei chose. She gave up a potential future with Yuzu to be this man's wife.

One day she would be Mrs. Mei Udagawa. For years, she had known this as an abstract concept. But now, it was very much a tangible reality. Because she was here sitting in this couch with him and Yuzu was in California probably getting drunk and dancing on some girl at a party. She only had to check Instagram to verify.

Mei desperately needed to feel that she made the right decision.

She needed reassurance that she did the right thing. That this marriage was going to work. That they were going to be happy. That she wasn't going to spend the rest of her life dreaming about her college roommate.

Andrew's head snapped towards her when she started scooting to his end of the couch. Eyes wide, he looked startled and slightly confused. They had never sat this close to each other before, side by side, legs touching.

_One day we'll be sharing a bed. _

Mei _had_ to know that her body wouldn't reject this man. Because right now her body felt like it only wanted to touched by Yuzu. Like she wouldn't ever be happy with anyone else's arms around her, holding her, keeping her safe from the world.

The muscles in Andrew's leg twitched when she laid her hand on his thigh. She searched her mind for something to say at this moment, but her mind was an utter blank. There was a static in her ears.

She turned to look at him, and his face was right there, super close. His eyes were searching her face, as if he was trying to decipher why she was being so forward. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any clues in her stoic, emotionless face either.

Maybe she should try harder? She wasn't an expert at seducing men, but at the moment Udagawa looked about as eager as she was. His look of trepidation matched the anxiety swirling in her stomach.

She cupped the side of his face and gave him an encouraging smile. Her thumb gently stroked his cheek – Yuzu liked it when she did that, her eyes would slip closed and she would lean into Mei's hand.

What she noticed right away was that Andrew's cheek was scratchy and prickly from a five o'clock shadow. _Right. Guys grow hair on their faces. _

An arm looped around her waist. Andrew pulled her in a tiny fraction closer, but her chest tightened and it felt like the room was closing in around her. She wanted to crawl out of her own skin.

As he leaned his head towards hers, the unsure expression on his face even clearer now that they were super close, the sudden the wrongness of it crashed down on her. "Andrew," she squeaked.

That must have sounded like an invitation because he closed his eyes and his lips puckered slightly.

Andrew's eyes flew open the next moment when he was pushed back roughly against the arm of the couch.

"I'm so sorry, but I think I'd like to go back to my hotel now. It's been a long day and I'm tired," Mei babbled as she jumped up from the couch and started collecting her things. "Thanks for the drink by the way."

Still sitting on the couch, Andrew blinked slowly at her. "Mei? Is everything all right? What's…going on?"

Pulling on her coat, she responded, "Nothing! Just a little dizzy. I caught a red eye flight, so I'm sleep deprived. Can we go now, please?"

A mild frown crossed his features, not buying her excuses one bit. But ever the consummate gentlemen, he asked her no more questions as he drove her back to her hotel.

Back in her room, Mei gratefully crawled into bed. Her nerves were frayed, and she was just thankful to not have to hold back her tears anymore.

Once again she felt the powerful urge to reach out to Yuzu. It was always the strongest at night in bed, clawing at the edges of her mind, but right now it just felt oppressive. She wanted to hear Yuzu's voice so badly.

Anything at all from her roommate – she would take it and be grateful. She needed any scrap of comfort to quell her anguish.

Her thumb hovered over the call button for Yuzu's contact on her phone. She had the crazy, inexplicable need to tell Yuzu about tonight. A hot trickle of shame snaked through her stomach as she thought about what happened with Andew.

_We were sitting really close to each other. Close enough that our legs were touching. We were almost going to kiss. But I_ _couldn't go through with it. My mind, my heart, my body rejected the whole idea. Because I want you. I wished it was you instead of him. I'm so so sorry that I touched him like that, his leg. _

_I promise it didn't mean anything. _

_Please don't be angry with me. _

Mei choked on a watery laugh. She was going crazy.

To distract herself, she opened up her phone to check what Yuzu was up to. As was evidenced by her Instagram story, Yuzu was in Malibu partying at a club. Her heart sank.

The looping video clip of Yuzu with her friends on a dance floor was the only light in the hotel room. After a couple of minutes, she turned off her phone and the room went pitch back.

* * *

The clubbing that night in Malibu kicked off a string of parties for Yuzu, Sara, and Nina. They spent the next four days visiting their friends from Long Beach to Palm Springs.

* * *

The rest of Mei and Andrew's ski trip passed without incident. At the end of the week, Mei flew home to Chicago. When her grandfather asked her how was Aspen, she said it went fine.

* * *

Maybe it was a bad idea to work a shift at the pop up restaurant after a bender with the Terrible Two. The last few days had been a blur of drinking, partying, and clubbing.

She was going to cancel when she woke up that morning with a wicked hangover, but at the last minute changed her mind and decided to work the job. The guy who asked her to work was her manager at her old job in the café, and he was a really nice guy. She worked for him for a three years when she was in UCLA and didn't want to let him down.

The one upside of going on a bender was that she was finally _cured_ of her Mei Aihara problem. The awful ordeal was totally behind her.

After popping 1000mg of Tylenol for her splitting headrace, Yuzu entered the kitchen wearing a white short-sleeved chef jacket and hair net. Eight line cooks in the smallish room were busily preparing bowls of ramen. Sandra, the sous chef, waved at her from the noodle machine. For the next few four hours, Yuzu was immersed in the chaos of an L.A. kitchen during the dinner rush.

Yuzu spent her fifteen-minute break in the back alley of the building, replying to her text messages and DMs while scarfing down a package of pork buns.

The back door of the kitchen opened and the master chef stepped out. He smiled widely when he spotted her and sat next to her on the stack of wooden pallets.

"Congrats, boss. Everyone out there is raving about the food. The black garlic shoyu ramen is a big hit," Yuzu said after swallowing a bite of pork bun.

"Thank you," he answered with a shy smile. "What can I say, made-from-scratch ramen is my passion."

"So what's next? Where's the next pop up?" Yuzu asked. "Didn't you want to do one in New York?"

The chef shook his head sadly. "No. This is the last one I'm doing. I'm going to get out of the restaurant business soon, Yuzu. This was my swan song."

"What?!" Yuzu cried. "Why?"

He stared at his hands for a moment before answering, "I have other responsibilities that I've been ignoring, that I now need to shift my focus on."

"What kind of responsibilities?" Yuzu tilted her head.

"My family owns several business. I'm expected to be take over a big portion of it soon. This whole chef thing…my father considers it a hobby, but one that I'm expected to give up when the time comes."

Yuzu didn't quite know what to say to this heartbreaking story, so she simply squeezed his arm. Softly she said, "I'm sorry."

Like something broke in his chest, he started to talk more about the big life changes in his life. He was going to get married next year.

"Oh congratulations!" Yuzu clapped her hands and pressed her fingers to her mouth. "I didn't realize you and Sandra were engaged! About time, you guys have been together for like six years, right?"

His eyes widened. "No, no, no. Sandra and I aren't getting married."

"Huh?" Yuzu frowned and tilted her head. "But aren't you guys still together? She told me all about your super romantic ski trip last week."

"It's complicated," he said with a deep sigh. "But it is what it is."

Yuzu's alarm beeped, signaling the end of her break. Before she went back inside, she waved at her old boss and said, "I'll see you inside, Andy."

* * *

Christmas Eve. It was snowing in Chicago.

Mei watched the snowfall from the grand parlor of the Aihara mansion. Outside, the ground gleamed white under the silver moon.

In contrast, it was a warm night in Los Angeles.

_Yuzu is probably wearing a dress to whatever party she's at. _

Mei turned away from the arched window and went to the bar and poured herself a Scotch. After Aspen, she picked up the habit of having a nightcap. Her grandfather stocked the best whisky money could buy in the bar in the parlor.

After taking a seat at the sofa with her drink, she stared at the ten-foot Christmas tree, beautifully decorated in a red and gold palette. The mansion staff must have spent days decorating this room for Christmas, and she felt bad for that. Her father was still in Tokyo and her grandfather was in New York.

Mei was the only one here for Christmas, so these decorations were wholly unnecessary.

Raising her glass to the twinkling tree, she said, "Merry Christmas."

_Merry Christmas, Yuzu. I hope you're surrounded by your family and friends. I hope you have all the love you deserve. _

The amber liquid tingled on her lips and burned all the way down to her stomach. She got up and switched off the all lights in the parlor, plunging the room in darkness. Time for bed.

Padding up the grand staircase to her room, Mei felt calm and at peace. Admittedly the last few weeks have been…challenging. Yuzu shutting her out distressed her more than she had ever expected, but she was finally turning a corner.

She was okay with Yuzu not calling her or texting her. It's probably better this way. As usual, Yuzu was way ahead of her in terms of emotional maturity. She had the right idea.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was alone the night before Christmas, wearing a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, and nursing a drink that burned like gasoline.

Yuzu was happy with real friends who loved her. She's moved on and is dating someone else.

Yuzu didn't need her in her life. She would just dull her sparkle.

_Because I'm just a big fraud. I look like I have everything together but inside…I'm a disaster lesbian._

Curiously feeling lighter than she had in ages, Mei crawled into her bed and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Mei was sleeping like a baby.

Ring

Ring

Ring

_What the hell is that sound? Is that my phone? Who is calling me at_ – Mei peeled her eyes open – _this ungodly hour? _

Ring

Ring

Ring

Grumbling, she tore through the rumpled sheets in her bed, searching for the phone if just to cease its incessant ringing.

When she found it and saw the caller's name, her heart shot to her throat. She swallowed hard in order to steady her voice. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mei." Yuzu's voice floated into her ear like an auditory hallucination. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she parroted. _Oh my god she's calling me._

"Did you have a good Christmas eve?"

"Uh, yes." In the pitch dark of the room, she ran her hand through her hair. Her brain was still trying to catch up with the fact that Yuzu was calling her. Clearing her throat, she elaborated, "I had a good time, yeah."

"What did you do?"

By her voice, Mei realized right away that Yuzu had been drinking. Having been Yuzu's roommate for a whole semester, she knew all the signs of the blonde's inebriation. She resisted the urge to scold Yuzu. What right did she have? And besides, she drank _herself_ to sleep.

"Umm, I just," she stalled. "I just relaxed and watched the snow. Then I went to sleep."

"Shoot, I woke you up, didn't I," Yuzu groaned. "I'm so sorry. Didn't even think if you were already sleeping when I called you. I'm such a dummy…..ah dang it, it's past 1am."

"No, no, no, you're fine! I don't mind at all." The words rushed out of her mouth, worried that the blonde would hang up. "I'm really glad you called, Yuzu. I've wanted to talk to you for a while."

There was a tinkling chuckle, and Mei drank in the sound like a person with a glass of water after traversing the Sahara desert.

"Aww, that's good to hear. I….I've wanted to talk to you too."

"You have?" Mei asked eagerly. Something cracked open, and hope bloomed in her chest. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Just, you know. Random things," Yuzu began in a conversational tone. "Yesterday we were in Santa Monica. The boardwalk is really nice, and I just know you would have liked it. Yeah sure, there are a bunch of crackheads walking around and they can be kinda scary, but if you were with me you'd be okay. I'll steer you away from the danger," Yuzu said firmly, and it made Mei's heart melt.

"The sunset over the beach is amazing. I know the perfect viewing spot to take you. There's this Ferris wheel and the whole scene is like from a postcard. It's the most romantic spot ever. I wish you were there with me." Yuzu whispered. "I'd kiss you right when the sky looks like it's on fire and you'd remember that moment the rest of your life."

Mei's heart ached as she felt their separation more acutely than ever, but it also felt like it was going to burst. The smile on her face was so wide it made her face hurt. Yuzu talking about an imaginary date soothed all her hurt and worry from the past few weeks. Her sweet voice was a balm to her searing wounds and aching heart.

"That sounds really sweet, Yuzu. I wish I was there too."

It didn't even matter that she knew Yuzu was in Santa Monica two days ago. It was well documented on the Gram.

"I went to get my hair done. I was gonna cut it really short but then I changed my mind." The non sequitur was another indication that Yuzu was just drunkenly rambling, but Mei didn't mind the slightest. The blonde could talk her ear off about the most quotidian activity, and she would eat it up.

"Why did you change your mind?"

"Oh I don't know…it's dumb."

"What? Just tell me," Mei coaxed sweetly. She could feel herself relax into the conversation.

"When he was about to cut it, I thought about what you would say if you saw my hair short…and I couldn't do it."

"Awww babe." It should have shocked her how easily the term of endearment rolled off her tongue after weeks of not saying it to her roommate. "I would have liked it. You look beautiful with whatever hair you have."

"Don't lie," Yuzu scolded her in a teasing manner. "You love my long hair."

"I do. It's so soft and pretty and I love running my fingers through it," She cooed into the phone. Good god, the words that were coming out of her mouth was so corny…but she couldn't help it. She laid back down on her bed, burrowing into the warm sheets, getting comfortable for a long talk with her roommate.

"Well, good news, I didn't cut my hair short, I just had my roots done and fixed up my layers. And had my hair styled of course. I took pics I looked like a hair commercial," Yuzu giggled.

"You could have texted me the pictures. I would have loved to see them," Mei said in a small voice. Of course she had seen aforementioned hair photos on Instagram, but it _hurt _that she had to rely on social media to know anything about her roommate.

Yuzu was silent.

"It kinda felt like you were ignoring me out of spite. It felt bad, being shut out, you know?" Mei didn't want to spoil the conversation, but she needed to get this out of her chest. It's wasn't like she was telling Yuzu the depths of her turmoil either. Feeling bad was an understatement.

There was a long sigh, signaling the shift of their conversation.

"I told you why when I left, Mei. I can't be your friend when I feel like…that about you. It's just too hard. I need to move on, not wallow in what could have been." There was a pause, as if the Yuzu realized that she was doing the opposite of what she was saying. "Yeah, I know I shouldn't be talking to you right now. The twins tell me that I absolutely need a clean break from you, or I'll never heal."

Mei guessed the 'twins' were the two girls all over Yuzu's Instagram. One of them was the tall one with huge boobs who was always draped over her. She hated them even more now. But her heart was also pounding from hearing Yuzu admit that she still had feelings for her.

"So yeah, I'm breaking the 'no-contact' rule. No calling, texting, communicating on social media for at least 30 days," Yuzu said begrudgingly.

"But I've missed you so much I can hardly stand it," Yuzu continued in a pained voice that faltered around the edges. "It makes my heart ache that I can't talk to you. And it's Christmas Eve and I thought—" Yuzu's voice cracked, and she didn't continue.

Tears stung at the corner of Mei's eyes and she swallowed down the burning lump in her throat. "I know your friends are telling you not to talk to me and maybe they're right. I don't deserve anything from you…but please let me be your friend," she pleaded. "I just want to be in your life, even just a little bit. Please tell me you won't shut me out when you come back next semester."

_Please let me stay in your orbit. I'll take the crumbs but don't turn me away. _

"It doesn't work that way."

Mei threw in a last desperate attempt. "But we're sorority sisters. We live in the same house. You pledged to uphold the bonds of sisterhood."

"You don't get it, do you?"

"Don't get what?"

"Why we can't be gal pals who go shopping and get our nails done." There was bitterness in Yuzu's voice. "What, we're gonna go for coffees and you can tell me all about the man you're going to marry? Then go wedding dress shopping?"

Embarrassment burned in Mei's cheeks. She retorted, "Of course not, why would—"

"I won't be that friend you vent to, how your husband doesn't listen to you. I won't be that friend you hang out with when your husband is out of town on business and you wanna have a _girls night_. "

A sick feeling rose in Mei's belly at the mention of being married to her fiancé. It felt so wrong, Yuzu talking about her and Andrew. About them being married, implying that they were _intimate. _

"Then when he comes back you'll say goodbye and skip back to your mansion and go back to being the perfect wife to your perfect husband. You guys will vacation in Europe and you'll text me pics of your fancy hotel room overlooking the Eifel Tower or something."

A hand raised to cover her mouth as the sick feeling intensified. Flashes of sitting on a couch, his hand wrapped around her waist, the fire throwing shadows across his face. She forced them from her mind with a rising panic.

"So yeah, I might be a little salty about being the platonic lesbian friend to Mei Aihara, sorority president and consummate straight girl who will soon be wed," Yuzu grouched. "No thanks. I'm not a masochist."

A sob managed to slip past the hand covering her mouth. Mei quickly stifled her sounds before the stray sob could trigger a full-blown crying jag. That could wait till later.

"Mei?" Yuzu asked cautiously.

She didn't answer. She couldn't very well _speak_ when she was choking on silent tears.

"Are you still there?"

….

"I'm sorry," Yuzu whispered. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to be such a bitch. Ugh. Please, Mei. I've just had a tough time lately. It's not an excuse to be a bitch, I know. But it's hard to deal with all this and I try to stuff it down, and the drinking and the partying can only do so much, but then out of the blue it hits me and I remember all over again, and it makes me angry and sad, and it _hurts_." Yuzu's voice cracked on the last word, thin and brittle like glass.

Mei gave a watery laugh, even though there was nothing funny in their conversation. "I'm hurting too," she confided.

"I wish I could hug you right now. I miss just being beside you."

Oh, so they were just going to be sharing their true feelings now?

"I also miss being next to you. I wish you were in bed with me. The only way I can fall sleep these days is wearing your hoodie." Mei pulled up the collar of said hoodie over her nose and inhaled, a self-soothing habit she'd picked up recently.

"Ah. You took it, huh?"

"Yeah. Sorry, not sorry," Mei replied dryly.

"We are a mess," Yuzu declared with authority. "How did we end up here? We weren't even supposed to be roommates. I was supposed to room with Madison, remember? But we ended up in the same room, and I fell in love with you." Yuzu's voice shook like a leaf in a windstorm. She tried to drop the L word nonchalantly, like it didn't matter, like it was in the past, but her voice betrayed her.

"Yuzu," Mei whispered. She uttered the name like a plea. It felt like she was losing her grasp on something important. Something was slipping away from her, falling like sand between her fingers.

"I keep replaying the last few months in my mind, over and over. Looking for that moment when you stopped just being my fuck buddy. When did I turn that corner?" Yuzu sounded genuinely perplexed, and Mei could visualize the way the blonde pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead.

"So which kiss, which touch, which post-sex cuddle would have been the right time to stop? At which point could I have pulled back safely?"

This time Mei couldn't hide the sounds of her sobs, even though her hand was wrapped around her lower face like a muzzle.

Yuzu continued to ramble drunkenly for a few minutes while Mei simply listened. Then her speech slowly drifted off, and she mumbled something needing to go to bed and that she didn't want to wake her mom.

After they hung up, Mei laid in her bed staring at the ceiling until the sun dawned on Christmas day.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

This chapter was a monster – it was originally at 14,000 words, but I didn't want to post a chapter that long, so I slashed it down to 10,000 words. The yoga scene was much longer and I cut out 3 shorter scenes. Ooof, that was painful, but I hope it achieved my goal of making this chapter as tight as possible.

This story is an AU but I like to draw parallels with the Citrus manga, especially with character relationships. People who have only watched the anime will recognize Sara and Nina, but Udagawa is a character who is in the 2nd half of the manga. We never get his first name, it's always just Udagawa-san or 'manager.' I gave him the name Andrew. I think it fits?

Thank you for all your reviews and comments on the last chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter as well.

Next chapter is the last chapter!


	11. Love forever

Yuzu woke up and immediately regretted it.

It felt like there was a demolition crew trapped in her skull, pounding and drilling, trying to get out. Like her head was a size too small for her brain.

_God. I need to make better choices._

A small, experimental turn of her head sent a searing bolt of pain into the back of her eyeballs. She moaned pitifully into the sheets.

_Never going to drink again, ever. _Yuzu wanted to make the announcement out loud, but her mouth was as dry as the Sahara Desert. Moving her tongue only highlighted the fact that her mouth tasted like a small animal had died in there.

_I vow to give up alcohol if I just survive this hangover._

A hand snaked around her waist and a warm body snuggled up to her side, effectively jostling her. Yuzu groaned at the explosion of pain in her cranium.

"I feel like I'm dying," Yuzu croaked. Seriously, her head felt like it was going to split in two. "Help."

The soft, female body curled around her didn't even respond to her plea. Instead, the girl continued to sleep draped over her.

Yuzu forced her bleary eyes to focus. Bleach blond hair was spilled across her chest, catching the sunlight streaming through an open window.

Several minutes of Yuzu trying to quell her dizziness passed before there was knocking. Her mother's head appeared through the open door a second later.

"Honey, are you girls going to up soon? I'm ready to make breakfast," Ume asked, tying an apron behind her back. "Waffles. Choice of blueberry and chocolate chip."

Yuzu raised her head and tried not to grimace. "Yeah, we're about to get up, Mom. Thanks."

When Ume closed the door, Yuzu nudged the girl lying on her. With a sleepy grumble, Nina raised her head and looked at Yuzu. After blinking a few times, Nina rasped, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Yuzu said with a wan smile. "C'mon, we gotta get up. Mom's making waffles. It's our Christmas day tradition."

On the other end of the mattress, Sara quickly sat up from the covers. "Waffles!" Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she cheered, "I'm ready!"

"Ugh, you clearly don't have a hangover like the one I'm having," Yuzu complained.

"Yeah, I didn't get blitzed like you did. I tried to tell you to slow your roll after you got a hold of that bottle of Fireball." Sara gave a sympathetic smile in apology. "But you didn't."

"Holy crap, it feels like I drank the whole thing!" Yuzu groaned pitifully after Nina rolled off of her. "What happened last night? What did I do?"

"You were just slamming the drinks and dancing super hard but after you almost fell off a table, we brought you home."

"Okay, that doesn't sound too bad."

Nina gave thoughtful hum as she hunted around the room for her pants. "You totally drunk-dialed Mei though. There were tears."

Yuzu shot up in a sitting position, the pain that cleaved her skull making her cry out. "What?! Oh god why didn't you stop me? I thought we looked out for each other!"

Nina and Sara turned to her with identical apologetic expressions, and they had never looked more like twins.

"You left the room and we thought you were just in the bathroom getting ready for bed and stuff," Nina explained. "But when I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, I found you on the couch just like, whisper crying into your phone." The taller girl cringed.

"And by then it was too late so Nina just let you finish your convo," Sara supplied helpfully.

"Oh my god you guys!" Yuzu screwed her eyes shut. Snatches of her phone conversation with Mei started to filter into her memory. None of it was super clear, but she remembered telling Mei about wanting to take her on a date in Santa Monica.

"This is the worst. I have thoroughly embarrassed myself by acting like some kind of lovesick puppy. Mei must think I'm some sort of moron, calling her up in tears after telling her she shouldn't contact me. And I broke the No-contact rule!"

"Babe, don't be too hard on yourself. It happens, okay? You live, you learn. Next time we drink and you start getting tipsy, I'll take your phone." Nina pulled on a pair of joggers she found in a drawer.

"No." Yuzu said with conviction. Rolling over, she fished her phone from under her pillow. "I'm cutting the cord right now. I should have done this sooner." The screen displayed Mei Aihara's entry in the contact list. "I'm deleting her number and blocking her."

Nina arched an eyebrow. She replied evenly, "That might be a good idea. That way you won't have a way to contact her even when you're tempted. And you won't be sadly checking your phone to see if she contacted you, because you have her blocked."

"Exactly," Yuzu muttered as she scrolled to the bottom and pressed the block button. Her brow furrowed. "Done."

Sara put her hand on her hip. "Okay, the Mei Aihara problem has been addressed. Can we go eat the amazing waffles your mom makes now?"

"Yes, please," Nina agreed as she followed her older sister out of Yuzu's bedroom.

* * *

It was a lovely Christmas day spent in the Okogi household. Ume made her famous waffles which all three girls ate with gusto. After brunch they made a TikTok video of them singing and dancing to Mariah Carey's _All I Want for Christmas is You._

Later that night they watched _A Christmas Story_ on Netflix while sipping on Bailey's. Except for Yuzu. She swore never to touch alcohol for the rest of her life.

Matsuri and Harumi called up Yuzu on FaceTime and they had a nice little chat. Matsuri was spending the holidays with Harumi's family in South Bend, Indiana.

When asked about how she was coping with the whole Mei thing, Yuzu replied with a cheerful _I'm doing great!_

Harumi and Matsuri of course were not fooled, but they let the matter drop.

* * *

Another night, another party.

This time it was at the Tachibana house, the last one before New Year's.

After that, most of Yuzu's L.A. friends were going to be busy getting ready to return to school for the next semester.

_I'll need to get ready to go back too._

Her flight back was on January 3rd. It would give her a few days to settle in before the Spring semester started on January 6th.

_I'll be moving out of my room and into Harumi's room._

Anxiety snaked into her stomach at the thought of seeing Mei again after more than three weeks. There would be no way to avoid seeing her old roommate. Mei would probably be back at the sorority house by January 1st.

_Do I really have to go back? Why can't I just stay here? I can defer the Spring semester and just come back next Fall._

That idea of skipping a whole ass semester so that she could avoid her erstwhile fuck buddy was both very tempting and humiliating.

_Yuzu Okogi, defeated by pussy. _The voice that rang in her head had Matsuri's mocking lilt. _Can't even handle having casual sex without catching feelings._

_It's not even like that_, she argued in her own mind. _It became way way more than just casual sex._

_Then perish._

_Ugh._ The sparkling water she was drinking didn't help to drown out the thoughts rattling around in her head.

The party served as a welcome distraction. She spent the first hour greeting and ushering guests, but now she was just at the one of the pool lounge chairs kicking back and trying to get into the party mood. She was rocking her best California girl party outfit: a pink off-the-shoulder crop top over distressed denim jeans and lace-up espadrille wedges. Hair in beach waves and eyes in smoky make up. She was dressed for the part, now she just needed to get in the mood to actually be sociable.

The sun had just dipped below the horizon, the diffused light from the sky giving everything a pinkish tint. Fairy lights were strung around the palm trees and shrubbery in the enormous backyard. A small group gathered around the bar on the patio, the piéce de résistance a keg of Natty Light.

_Nasty. I'm not even sad that I've given up drinking for the rest of the year._

Yuzu was broodingly staring into the swimming pool when she saw an approaching figure from the corner of her eye.

Foolishly, her heart kicked in her chest. She could recognize that gait anywhere.

But it _couldn't_ be. Her mind was playing tricks on her again. Anytime she spotted a tall, slender woman with long straight black hair and Asian features, her whole body would seize in anticipation. She felt stupid each time it happened. Logically her brain understood that it couldn't really be _her_, that it was impossible for her roommate to be here, but her foolish, hopeful heart hadn't gotten the memo.

She raised her head anyway, prepared to be proven wrong.

The air left her lungs. Her heart promptly shot to her throat.

Mei Aihara was by the far end of the pool, walking towards her direction.

Yuzu blinked rapidly as the bottom of her stomach fell away. The mirage of Mei Aihara didn't disappear into thin air. Her roommate and sorority sister was still walking towards her.

A cold bolt of panic shot up her spine as she struggled to wrap her brain around the fact that Mei was _here. _In the flesh. Here in California, here in Sara and Nina's house party.

_How did she find me? What is she doing here?_

Her heartbeat was knocking painfully against her chest. The hard staccato drowned out all sound as she watched Mei's progress across the large backyard. She was dressed simply, dark wash skinny jeans and a white V-neck t-shirt. Her hair was down, but it had a tousled look to it as if she had been running her fingers through it constantly. It looked sexy as hell.

_Fuck. She looks so good._

Yuzu felt a frisson of anger at Mei showing up out of nowhere, looking like an absolute _stunner_.

It irked her that Mei always looked so goddamn beautiful in every situation. She hated the fact that her heart felt like it was going to leap out of her chest right now, just from laying eyes on her roommate.

_Why does she always have to make a dramatic entrance at every party she shows up at?_

Even in a place like Malibu where people considered looking beautiful as their purpose in life, Mei turned heads. People also stared at her because she was a gorgeous stranger being trailed by Sara and Nina. The twins flanked her like a security detail, tension in the set of their shoulders. Yuzu's gaze flicked to Mei's face, searching for a clue. She found those eyes locked on her, and Mei moved like a missile seeking its target.

Fighting the urge to squirm under the intense gaze, Yuzu sat up straighter in her chair as Mei approached.

"Hi." Mei's mouth moved to say the greeting, but the real action in her face was her eyes. Mei's gaze hungrily traced her face, absorbing the details. As if she missed her seeing her face. Then those eyes pinballed over her body, and she felt a rush of heat over the exposed skin of her shoulders.

Yuzu cleared her throat. "Hi. Um. How did you know where to find me?" _Great question!_ Because really, that was the big mystery here. Not, _what are you doing here?_

"I went to your house first and talked to your mom. She told me you were here and gave me the address." Mei shrugged one shoulder, hands curling at her sides.

"Oh, okay." She tilted her head. "But then how did you know where I lived?"

"Matsuri told me," Mei replied in a quiet voice.

"Matsuri?" Before Yuzu could follow up with another inane question, she remembered that she when she spoke to Harumi and Matsuri a few days ago, they exchanged mailing addresses for belated Christmas gifts. She still hadn't mailed their gift.

"I'm surprised Matsuri gave it to you."

"I know, right?" Mei gave a rueful smile. "But I guess she felt sorry for me. Or maybe she thought it was a good idea for us to talk."

This was the moment that Nina decided to finally speak up. "Oh is it now?" she said cattily, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at Mei. "_Is_ it a good idea for you to talk?"

Sara looked hesitant for one second, her gaze snapping from Yuzu then to Mei. Then she said her twin's name in a warning tone. "Nina."

"She's going against the No-contact rule!" Nina argued with an angry huff. "30 days, remember? That clock was reset after the Christmas drunk dial fiasco."

Everyone in the backyard was looking at them now, even though the music from the DJ drowned out their voices.

"But it's not like they should be stopped from talking now! What are you going to do, kick her out? Mei came here all the way from…wherever she came from, that must mean she needs to tell Yuzu something important!" Sara's eyes rounded in excitement.

Yuzu's heart kicked in her chest again as flutters erupted in her belly. _No, no, no. Don't get ahead of yourself. Don't raise your hopes until you hear what she has to say._

"Can we talk somewhere private, please?" Mei entreated. Her bottom lip was caught in her teeth. "I do need to tell you something important."

Like she was in a trance, Yuzu nodded and stood up.

"The balcony should be empty. It's locked but you know the master code," Sara said.

Nina narrowed her eyes at Mei in a silent threat, which the brunette met with a stoic expression.

Yuzu led Mei into the house, where the party was in full swing. The music was even louder as the makeshift DJ booth was set up in living room, surrounded by four giant speakers. Several girls from Yuzu's sorority chapter in UCLA intercepted them to say hi or drunkenly ramble. Heads turned when they passed, their eyes on Mei, the girls sizing her up and the guys trying to flex.

It made her want to grab Mei's hand and lace their fingers together. She wasn't sure if she was just looking for an excuse to touch Mei, because god, she wanted to. Her body felt like it was buzzing, just from being in Mei's proximity. Turning around, she reached for Mei's hand—

"Yuzu, who's your friend?" Nene asked excitedly as she blocked their way up the staircase.

Her arm quickly snapped back at her side, her hand balling into a fist.

"This is Mei. My, um –." There was a short pause while she mentally flipped through a rolodex of descriptors for their relationship. "Sorority sister."

"Ohhhhh!" Nene squealed before launching herself into Mei for a hug. "I love meeting sisters from other chapters. Welcome! Chi Theta Sigma for life!"

After Nene was peeled off of Mei and they were walking up the stairs, Yuzu mumbled, "Sorry. She gets like that when she does coke." She felt an acute sense of embarrassment when she realized Mei probably associated her with drunken college parties.

A hand lightly touched her elbow. Electricity travelled up her arm from the spot.

"It's okay," Mei said softly. '"I'm sure she's just having a good time during her winter break." It sounded like she meant it.

On a small digital screen mounted on the wall beside large French doors, Yuzu typed in a code and the lock disengaged with a metallic click.

They walked out the balcony into the perfect California night. The pool was on the other side of the house, so it felt relatively private. There was too much light pollution to see the stars, but the moon shone brightly in the cloudless sky. Below them, palm trees swayed in a gentle breeze perfumed by tropical flowers.

Mei remarked, "It's beautiful here."

Yuzu couldn't wait any longer, so she interrupted the brunette with a non sequitur. "What do you need to tell me, Mei? And why couldn't you just have called me?"

"You blocked me. I tried a few times."

"Oh. Oh yeah." Yuzu cringed as she scratched the back of her neck. "Um. It was because of this thing, called the No-contact Rule. I'm not supposed to contact you for 30 days. It's basically like a 30-day fast from your ex. By having zero contact, you'll get to reset, and by the end of it you won't care about them anymore."

Mei's face fell. She pressed her lips tightly together and her throat bobbed as she swallowed. A film of moisture covered her eyes before she dropped her gaze down at the ground. Long tapered fingers raised to quiet her quivering lips.

Guilt and regret snaked around her belly at driving Mei almost to the point of tears. Yuzu barely fought the urge to rush to the other girl and scoop her up in her arms and soothe her hurt expression. She wanted to whisper her apologies into Mei's ear, taking back what she said.

_I don't want to forget about you, I'm crazy about you, I can't bear living like this…_

"I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Yuzu stuttered lamely instead.

Mei raised her head to meet her eyes again. "No, I deserve that. I understand if you hate me."

"I don't hate you," Yuzu protested, stepping towards Mei until they were a foot away from each other. This reminded her of the last time they had a face to face conversation with each other, when she stormed out of their room for the last time, determined to leave her feelings behind. "I could never hate you. But this is just a really shitty situation and I'm just trying to cope."

Mei didn't look very convinced. Moonlight cut across her cheek, caressing the delicate planes of her face. Even with half her face in shadow, the bereft expression on her face was clear as day.

"Please just listen while I tell you everything," Mei asked, her shoulders creeping up towards her ears. "I'm going to lose my nerve and forget all the things I wrote down on the plane."

Yuzu found the idea of Mei diligently creating a list of talking points for their conversation oddly endearing. "Okay, I'll be quiet," she promised.

Mei took a deep breath and began. "I've acted pretty terribly towards you, right from the very beginning. When we first met, I was a huge bitch to you, to the point that it was inappropriate, given that I'm your sorority president and your roommate. I found myself jumping at every chance to criticize you even when you didn't deserve it." She shook her head sadly at the memory.

_Yeah, you made it pretty clear that you didn't like me._ Yuzu remembered how Mei would glare at her from across a room. It always made her feel flustered and too _hot._ Sometimes she would do little things just to feel those eyes on her. _Probably shouldn't confess that right now, though._

"But I was perplexed why I got so jealous of other people with you. When guys would flirt with you, I would get so mad. The girls too, because there was a lot of them. I was even jealous of Harumi because she got close to you so fast. And then when I saw Matsuri kiss you, I was _livid. _I could have set her on fire, I was so angry. I didn't realize it then, but it was because _I_ wanted to be the one kissing you. Not her, not any other random guy but _me_."

A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up from Yuzu's throat, and she clapped her mouth over her mouth to keep from interrupting. In an disconcerting juxtaposition to her laugh, tears pricked at her eyes.

"Then because I was selfish, I allowed us to have sex but refused to even acknowledge what either of us were feeling. I didn't even want to deal with the question of my sexuality at that point." Mei gave a mirthless laugh. "I shoved that question deep, deep down into a box and kicked it so far into the closet, it ended up in Narnia. Himeko had to inform me that I was gay."

_No way. Himeko? I thought for sure she hated my guts. What did she say to convince you that you're a huge gay? _ She was about to ask but caught herself from interrupting.

Mei fidgeted with her hands, pulling at the hem of her shirt. "I wanted to live in denial. I wanted to be that person who could have a friend with benefits. Even to myself, I couldn't bear to process what was going on with you. The way you made me feel. I couldn't bear to think about the implications."

She couldn't listen to Mei beat herself up any longer. Laying a hand on the other girl's arm, Yuzu insisted, "You're not the only to blame for that, though. I didn't push for us to have a talk about it either. I just went along with it, too."

"Sure," Mei acquiesced the point easily with a shrug. "But I objectively did more damage because I had a huge secret that I should have let you know before things…intensified."

"You mean the fact that you're engaged to some rich dude." Yuzu wasn't able to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Yes," Mei whispered. "I should have told you from the very beginning. Then maybe." She took a shaky breath. "Maybe you would have decided I wasn't worth your—"

Yuzu squeezed her forearm and said firmly, "Don't you say that. After thinking about it, I realize what you were dealing with. This is the future that your family has planned for you. It was bigger than just you and me."

_I'm just a random girl who became your roommate, completely by chance. What did I expect you to do? Call off your engagement to your millionaire fiancé because we fooled around?_

It was a ridiculous thought to say it out loud, which is why Yuzu didn't. Plus the fact that it felt like a knife twisting in her heart.

"Then why did I feel like everything was wrong after you left, after you shut me out? Why did I feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life?" Mei whispered hoarsely, a haunted look creeping into her eyes. "I was so depressed that it physically hurt. The only way I could fall asleep was if I wore your sweater and pretended you were sleeping beside me." Her voice cracked. "For the first time, my life felt wrong. Because you left me."

Yuzu face crumpled from the effort to keep from bursting into tears. The urge to reach out and crush Mei into a hug was so strong. She decided hugs were definitely in order, but they had to have this conversation. It was long overdue.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I was," Yuzu stammered, spreading her arms wide. "Hurting too. But I wore my heart on my sleeve since day one, so I needed to keep myself from being hurt even more."

Mei wrapped her arms around herself, palms cupping elbows. She looked so vulnerable that it pulled at Yuzu's already beleaguered emotions.

"I messed up and I want to apologize for my part. I'm sorry for denying my feelings and making your go through hell. I'm sorry that I'm confessing to you now, when things are messed up between us." Mei raised her head and met her gaze. "I'm in love with you, Yuzu."

Record scratch.

_Yo, what?_

_No way._

_She's in love with me?_

_Not just 'love,' but 'in love'._

_Holy cannoli._

"Oh, wow." That was all her brain was capable of producing at the moment. Even less intelligent sounding was her follow up, "Really?"

Yuzu had daydreamed about this particular scenario, more times than was healthy. But she had been aware that it was just a fantasy. She understood that there was actually no way that Mei would actually come around with a grand gesture and confess her love.

"Please, take me back," Mei asked, her voice thick with emotion. "I want us to be together again. But this time, in a real relationship_._ This time, you'll know how I feel about you. I'll tell you every day that I love you."

Yuzu was overwhelmed that she didn't realize at first that tears were leaking out of her eyes. She was drawn into Mei's arms, and she promptly melted into the other girl. With her face tucked into the crook of Mei's neck, Yuzu cried softly. She let all the hurt and loneliness from the last month out unravel from her chest. Mei's arms were tight around her, and she just felt blessed relief. It soothed the pain, but also validated the fact that she wasn't crazy. That she wasn't the only one who felt the connection between them. Because Mei's holding her just felt so right, their bodies felt like they were made for each other, that there was no way to deny it.

After a while of Mei rubbing soothing circles on her back, she raised her head and sniffed.

Wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, a painful realization rose to the front of her mind. The corners of her lips drew down as she processed the thought but didn't pull away from Mei quite yet. Yuzu wanted to savor the taller girl's warmth against her for just a little longer because god, she missed this.

Finally, Yuzu gently pulled away until she was an arm's length from Mei. "I want to be in relationship with you, Mei. More than anything." In a weary voice, she continued, "But I can't. I can't go back to the way things were, even if we level up from friends with benefits. You're still engaged, Mei. I can't just go into a relationship with you and know that one day I'll have to give you up to marry Mr. Rich Dude."

It hurt like hell to say it, but she had to protect her own heart. Yuzu braced herself for Mei's argument. She had to stay strong and not be swayed by Mei's assurances that it was going to be fine for the time being. Because in the long run, it wasn't going to be okay.

She couldn't let her heart get broken a second time. There would be no recovering from that one.

Mei tilted her head and gazed at her fondly, a gentle smile on her lips. "I called it off, Yuzu. The whole engagement thing. I told my grandfather I didn't want to marry Andrew, and if he had a problem with that, well, tough." Mei gave a careless shrug.

"What?!"

"I told him that if he didn't want me to inherit the company because I wouldn't agree to an arranged marriage, then he better hope my father can produce another child then." A small smirk tugged on the side of Mei's mouth.

"You what?!"

Mei's smile grew wider, amused at the memory of telling off the Aihara patriarch. "He couldn't even threaten me with that because we both knew my father wouldn't dream of having another child."

"And what about your fiancé? What did he say?" Yuzu's mind was still boggled.

"You know, Andrew and I finally had a nice, heart to heart talk, and it turns out he's just as relieved as a I am. Apparently he's had a serious girlfriend for six years who he really loves. And turns out his real passion is craft ramen and he wants to become a top chef…?" Mei's voice rose and then trailed off, as if she was surprised herself.

A wrinkle appeared in Yuzu's brow at the weird idea that entered her mind about Mei's mystery fiancé. _Andy?_ It seemed like an outrageous coincidence, but weirder things have happened. She'll have to ask Mei about it later.

"I don't understand." Yuzu lifted both hands to gesture at Mei. "Even if you still get to run your family's company, why would you give this up? You've always known that you were going to be married to this man and how the rest of your life was going to go. I can't believe why you would throw it all away for me."

Mei looked up at the night sky and for a moment it seemed like she was lost in her own thoughts. Then she stepped forward and took Yuzu's hands in hers and held them against her chest. "After you left, I spent a lot of time thinking about the future. My life as his wife." Pain flickered across her face. "I thought about not being able to see you anymore. Not having you in my life. Not seeing your beautiful smile."

A hand touched the side of her face, thumb brushing over her cheek. Her eyes slipped closed for a second, and she couldn't help but lean into Mei's gentle touch.

Mei stared at her face for a long moment, as if she was imagining her Yuzu-less future. "I thought about waking up in the morning and not having you in the bed beside me. And about the day I would start to forget the sound of your voice because it had been too long. Staring at the one picture we ever took together, when we were at that cider mill."

A single tear tracked down Mei's pale cheek. "I decided I couldn't live with that. I couldn't live with the regret of letting you walk away. It's unimaginable."

A gasp hitched in Yuzu's throat as something cracked open deep in her chest.

"Oh, Mei," she managed to say before the throwing her arms around the taller girl. This time, she was the one who held Mei in a crushing hug. In a true reversal of their former position, Mei was the one crying on Yuzu's shoulder.

Mei's crying was soft at first. After a while wrapped in the arms of the girl she thought she had lost for good – her trembling started. Wracking sobs heaved from her chest, her upper body shuddering. She valiantly tried to smother the sharp cries that were being wrenched from the pit of her stomach. They hitched in her throat, and her mouth fell open to keep from choking on them.

Throughout it all, Yuzu just held the girl tight. One hand held the back of Mei's head and her other arm was looped around the back of her waist. She quietly shed her own tears as Mei fell apart in her arms, but there was no force on earth that could have made her let the girl go.

The LAPD could have kicked down the door to the balcony and demand that everyone clears out because the party was disturbing the peace, and Yuzu wouldn't have stopped holding Mei. Not until the other girl was ready. She had lost her once, but she was never, ever going to again.

Eventually, Mei's sobbing subsided. "I missed you so much," she mumbled into her shoulder.

"Not as much as I missed you."

"Doubtful." The raven head lifted from shoulder. Wetness clung to Mei's long lashes, and there was a crinkle between her red-rimmed eyes. "I flew all the way to California a few days before you were due back, because I couldn't take it anymore. I had to see you, or I was going to go crazy."

Yuzu's lips pulled into a wide smile. It was going to take a little while to get used to Mei being open about her feelings. But she loved it. "So you really missed me that much, huh? Couldn't wait to see me?"

"Yes, and I needed to ask you something important." Mei straightened her spine, assuming a familiar air of authority. "It could also have probably waited until you got back, but I had a feeling that there was competition out here for your affections."

Yuzu tilted her head. "Competition?"

"Yuzu, will you be my girlfriend?" Mei asked bravely, her shoulders thrown back and a determined glint in her eyes, but there was a slight tremor in her voice.

She inhaled a sharp breath. "Yes." Curling her fingers around Mei's biceps, she repeated, "Yes."

Mei pressed her lips together and her forehead creased, like she was trying not to burst into tears again.

"I thought I was going to have to wait for a different lifetime. My answer will always be yes!"

Mei cupped her cheek and they both leaned in at the same time, meeting in the middle. When their lips touched, Yuzu felt it in her whole body. Her nerves sang at the sensation of Mei's soft lips, the lips she thought she would never kiss again. Their mouths moved slowly and gently, reclaiming territory that they both thought was lost.

Mei's hands started to wander her body, first landing on her hips then tracing the curve of her waist. Mei touching the bare of skin of her stomach sent heat to curl low in her belly.

Yuzu angled her head to deepen the kiss and Mei's lips parted for her tongue. She sighed when she tasted Mei's flavor as their tongues slipped against each other in a familiar rhythm. Holy heck, she almost forgot that Mei was a really good kisser. The brunette was skilled with her lips, kneading with the right amount of pressure that kept Yuzu satisfied but also wanting more. Mei had a delicious way of licking into Yuzu's mouth and coaxing her tongue to play.

She lifted a hand and tangled her fingers in Mei's raven tresses, pulling lightly, earning her a soft moan.

That's when they heard muffled cheers and whistles.

They turned towards the sound and saw a handful of people watching them from behind the French doors of the balcony, mostly Chi Theta Sigma girls and a couple of random dudes. Sara was clapping her hands delightedly and Nina had a shit-eating grin. Nene yelled something that sounded like _oh yeah Yuzu girl can get it._

Mei groaned and hid her head into the crook of Yuzu's shoulder. She murmured against her neck, "I'm assuming they all know about our little drama?"

She giggled into her girlfriend's raven hair. _Holy heck I have a girlfriend!_ "Babe, they're my sorority sisters. Of course they know."

Mei huffed before conceding, "Fair enough. I mean, I totally told Himeko the whole sordid tale between us. She said it was like the plot of a Korean drama. Or a Japanese yuri manga."

Yuzu pulled back so she could look at the girl in her arms. "How about we get out of here? I'm done with this party. I want to go on a first date with my girlfriend."

Adoration shone bright in Mei's eyes when she answered, "I would love to."

**_Fin._**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I hope you guys found this ending satisfactory. This is the first long story that I've completed, and I hope that it was okay. A few chapters ago when I was planning out the ending, I knew I wanted to subvert the narrative of Mei always running away and Yuzu being the one to ride in with the cavalry to save the day. Mei's character is severely emotionally repressed, but I wanted to give her some agency in the conclusion her story.

It took me more than a year to write this story and I want to thank each and every one of you who showed love in the form of favorite, follow, kudos, subscribe. And of course, thank you so much for every review/comment you have left. They motivated me to write each chapter and to finish this story. Also, thank you to **Ja55** for helping light a fire under my ass with the chapter exchange.

I'll probably write an epilogue to this story at some point, but for now I'm turning my attention back to my other Citrus fanfic, _My Sister's Alpha_. My state has a shelter in place order for COVID-19, and so theoretically I will have time to work on this fic. I've been social distancing for the past three weeks and now work from home. Stay safe everyone!


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